An original cover video is when you perform a song you didn't write without the use of a master recording as a backing track.

If you play a recording you didn't make (or hired someone to make for you) and sing over it, you probably shouldn't upload it to our system. If you're unsure, you can always email us at info@wearethehits.com to confirm the music you're using won't cause a copyright strike.

We Are The Hits (WATH) has deals with many publishers to monetize your videos on your behalf and allow you to earn revenue from the cover song videos you create! To participate, you simply need to create an account with WATH. Then upload your original cover song video to your WATH account. We will use that video to create a YouTube Content ID Fingerprint. Once that is processed, you will receive an email letting you know it is finished. You may then upload the video to your own channel through your YouTube account. The fingerprint will be used by the YouTube system to find your video (as well as any others out there from people who try to steal your content), and place a "claim" on that video. This claim enables monetization, allowing you to earn revenue from views on your cover song video. WATH collects this revenue, and pays out the publishers of the songs you covered a percentage of that revenue. We then payout a portion of the revenue to you, the artist. This portion is typically 40% of the gross earnings.

YouTube is constantly making changes to how their system works, and how they prioritize their claiming system. They have made a change recently that prioritizes certain partners assets over others. Unfortunately, this means that WATH claims now can take several weeks to find and monetize your video. We are working to resolve this with YouTube. Please be patient when waiting for a claim from WATH to show up on your video. Thank you.

While WATH has deals with publishers that allow us to enable monetization on your behalf, we do not have the ability to prevent a publisher from placing a claim directly on your video as well. This is nothing to be concerned about, it simply allows the publishers to track and earn on videos using their copy written content, and pay their writers. Using WATH cannot prevent them from earning directly from your video, but does allow you to participate in those earnings.

We get a monthly report from YouTube that gives the exact figures, which we use to update our system. We can't do this in real time. If you are a member of one of our MCN (multi-channel network) partners, you'll get reports and payment from them. We appreciate your patience!

If you already have a video on your channel, upload the original video into your WATH account. This will create a YouTube Content ID Fingerprint, which will scan all YouTube videos and create a claim on your existing video. This will enable monetization on your existing video. Monetization only works going forward. You will not be able to earn any money for previous views.

It's very easy to upload them in our system. If it's a new video that isn't already on your channel, check out these instructions on how to upload the video. You can repeat this process until all songs in your video are added.

If the video is already on your channel, search our library and confirm that ALL of the songs in your video are cleared for monetization. If they are not, we can't claim and monetize it for you. If they are, send the link to info@wearethehits.com and we'll claim them.

The strike is likely occurring because either you and your backing track sound exactly like the original master recording, or you are using backing music that is not cleared for you to use as a sound recording. If you use any part of the original version, a karaoke instrumental, or a backing track bought online, we cannot guarantee you will be able to legally monetize it and avoid strikes.

However, if there is a sound recording claim being made and you didn't use a backing track, you should email support@wearethehits.com and we will assist you.

We generally see this happen for two reasons.

1) You put a bunch of tags on the video that don't relate to your video at all. YouTube wants to make sure you're not abusing tagging to get more views. Only use tags that directly relate to your video.

2) Sometimes non-fans swarm the video with flags just because. It's a pain and unfortunately we can't help here.

Here's a useful forum on the matter.

If you uploaded it to our system properly, we are tracking and monetizing it. The reason you don't see anything is because all that data is not in real time. We base those figures from the monthly YouTube report.

If you sent us links to claim instead of uploading to our site, you won't see the videos listed in your account for the same reason, however the process takes longer since we have to manually match the video to your account and the composition.

We love our international artists and want to make sure when we wire you your money it goes to the proper place. Your IBAN (International Bank Account Number) goes in the "Wire/Routing" field.

Typical processing time depends on the size of the video and number of items in the queue. A good estimate is about 15 - 30 minutes. If you experience a longer time, go ahead and upload the video directly to your channel(s), then send an email to support@wearethehits.com with the link(s) so we can confirm it is monetized.

We are only able to claim older videos that have 1000+ views. When we claim videos already on your channel, we not only have to wait for the monthly report from YouTube and ingest that data, we also have to match the video to the song and your account. It is a manual process and we try to get this done in a timely manner. The biggest thing to remember is that if WATH has claimed it, it will be monetized properly and you'll see the video in your dashboard in due course.

Please send requests to songs@wearethehits.com and we'll check to see if the song is in one of the many catalogs we represent. If it is, we'll add it to our library immediately and let you know you can upload. If it isn't, we'll do our best to bring the music publisher into our library, however we can't guarantee if or when that will happen.

Actually, the video is being monetized by WATH and not your channel, which is why you don't see a green $. If you are still concerned, please email support@wearethehits.com and include a link to the video in question.

WATH is for "original cover videos". This means the music and video must be original. You may not create a video using an existing master recording as a backing track and a video of lyrics overlayed. You must create original versions of a song.