How to find out whether a video is copyright protected? Youtube API v3

Question

This discord.js bot which has a music command, it has a sub-command 'download' to download the .mp3 file of the YouTube link provided. Now, of course, I've done my research about converting and downloading YouTube videos to mp3 files. I found out it is illegal to download copyrighted content, but it is legal to download non-copyrighted content.

So, before actually downloading the .mp3 file, I'd like to check if the video is claimed by any copyright groups (like Warner Music, etc). I've checked many other similar questions and most seem to be pointing to the licensedContent boolean, which is NOT the answer I want. NCS (NoCopyrightSounds, a youtube channel which provides copyright free music) has their videos licensedContent set to true, but their videos are allowed to be downloaded.

I've looked a bit of the official YouTube API v3, but found nothing that could lead to the result I want. Is there a way to detect this?

Answer 1

What licensedContent property actually stands for is:

Indicates whether the video represents licensed content, which means that the content was uploaded to a channel linked to a YouTube content partner and then claimed by that partner.

This is also the only property returned from the v3 which would suggest any copyrights laws associated with the media.

When you refer to NCS Music, if you read the description posted on their music videos you'll find couple of disclaimers.

Firstly:

© NCS releases are free to be used and monetised in user-generated content (UGC) made by independent content creators in video content on YouTube & Twitch, without the fear of copyright claims.

And right at the bottom you'll find the following disclaimer:

If you're a brand or a commercial organisation interested in using NCS music anywhere else, get in touch at licensing[at]nocopyrightsounds.co.uk

As you can see, the content is indeed copyrighted therefore if you intended to use their videos on your download page, you'd need to contact them first.

Google .licensedContent API