Which Old Movies And TV Shows Can You Legally Upload To Your YouTube Channel

Is this for real?

Are you wondering which old movies and TV shows you can legally upload to your YouTube channel to get more comments and followers? Good, wonder no more. You have come to the right place. This is for real.

First of all, please note that the following info is based on opinion and therefore should not be regarded as legal advice and I do not condone anyone breaking any copyright laws. You should always do your own checks before you upload or use any media for your own personal or business use.

I have two key things for you to note:

1: Has copyright protection expired?

2: What is in the public domain?

Knowing about and searching for these two key pieces of information will lead you to what TV shows and movies can be found and used on your YouTube channel.

Pre 1978:

You should also note the year 1978. Before 1978 is when the copyright was the lifetime of the original content creator/owner plus 50 years. This was thanks to the Copyright Act 1976. From 1st January 1978 it was increased to lifetime plus 70 years. So the key thing is to find TV shows and movies that fall into this criteria. It does get slightly blurry if the creator/owner dies, in which case potentially their estate may take their copyright over (but this will depend on each individual case).

Anonymous Works:

Protection can prove different for things made anonymously, using a pseudonym. In such cases, protection can last for either 95 years from the year the work was first published, or 120 years after its creation. Whichever comes first. Mainly, when it comes to individual current creators, 70 years after their death is the rule of thumb.

Just show me the money!

Okay settle down. I get it. You don't want to waste your time reading a bible length post. You want to be shown a few links to videos you can add to your video channels. Well f**k you! Cheeky bugger 😆😆😆

In all seriousness. If you want to find any gems then like anything valuable you will need to hunt for them yourself. You will need to find out if the work you want to upload to your YouTube channel has a creator who has died and had no family and since the works first aired are now more than the 50 or 70 years.

There are some potentially obvious very old works you can download without too much worry (but always double check).

Here are a few tips and links (thanks for reading this far):

1. You can go to places like this to find old films and shows >>>

- Once you have the show / film you want to upload you then might have to go to YouTube and search for the video itself (sometimes non video hosted websites do not have the actual video uploaded they just mention the film info)*

2. Search YouTube for Public Domain shows / films >>>

*If you manage to find a copy of the works already on YouTube then you may be able to use an online tool like THIS ONE >>> to download it and be able to re-upload it to your channel. Or - if that does not work try THIS ONE and or search for others (these sites change a lot with some closing and others opening). Facebook may also have videos you want to copy in which case use this tool >>>

Over to you...

Adding old TV shows and old movies does take a bit of research and skill. Hopefully the information you have found in this post will help you to get underway.

If you liked anything about this post, then share it, make me rich, fill my pocketsies with gold.

PS: Note that there are different rules for using part of content and adding it to YouTube. You need to be aware of "Fair Use". Ideally you should always, first reach out to the copyright owners or rightsholders directly and negotiate the appropriate licenses for your use. Then, check the license. Licenses have explicit permission for using the content and often include limitations for how the content is used. If you want more then check out this US law focused video explaining fair use.

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Christian Jacques Bennett

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