I'm sure as you are all aware, there are many channels currently fighting several copyright claims, up to the hundreds for some. Several Youtubers have had various update videos and rants on the current minefield Youtube has become for some. Even larger channels such as Angry Joe are fighting such claims, some of them even being bogus. How did this come about however? Well first a little bit of history:
Several Youtubers have their own opinions on to how this came about ranging from companies pressuring Youtube to allow them to have more control over copyright to blaming networks. Watching many of these different videos, there's quite a bit of information to be drawn. Some people have mistaken this as an apparently "new" content identification system, this system has existed for a long time now. However there was an option to skip this content id system. Normally when you upload a video for monetization, it undergoes a content review, courtesy of their system, which can take up to days even weeks, this is bad for people wishing to make a living. Youtube however allowed these entities, MCNs or multichannel networks, to give a bargain.
MCNs are just large networks on Youtube. However being a part of one offered one huge benefit: the ability to skip the monetization review. In return for being granted this ability by Youtube, copyright infringing content uploaded by their sub channels, is also the responsibility of the network, or was supposed to be. These networks began recruiting as many channels as they could. These MCNs had them sign binding contracts, for however long, asking for a cut of your revenue, 40% being the most I've heard, and in turn offered services such as promotion which they rarely actually granted, however you could skip the monetization review and immediately monetize any video you upload. Networks such as RPM and Polaris, did exactly that, recruiting hundreds of channels, taking a cut of their revenue for services they rarely offered. This is something roughly behind the scenes in Youtube that not many who just watch are aware of, but how does this affect the current situation?
Recently Youtube forced MCNs to make a choice: to manage or affiliate those channels they bound by contract. Being manged means there's no change to you, you continue to evade the content id system, however becoming an affiliate carries a hefty change, you become subject to the content id system, you can no longer skip that monetization review, yet are still bound by contract for however long it lasts. Now the punishments for MCNs if a sub channel receives a copyright strike are very severe; half a dozen people can destroy an entire network and anyone managed by it. Now here's where you get the current situation. All of those channels that could previously escape the content id system, have become affiliates, are having their videos reviewed by the system, essentially thrown under the bus because these MCNs can't afford to look after the hundreds, even thousands of channels they have recruited or the consequences of those channels infringing copyright laws. Those channels who have become managed, such as TotalBiscuit, will never have to worry about these countless content id claims, the content id system ignores them, the only claims they have to worry about are claims filed by actual people, not the content id bot.
Even worse so: People have even seen bogus claims by random smaller channels and even corporations that they've never even heard of; this may have become a feeding frenzy.
There are game publishers that are openly supporting Youtubers such as Blizzard, Capcom and Ubisoft:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-ubisoft-and-capcom-offer-support-after-huge-spike-in-youtube-copyright-claims/1100-6416659/
Mojang has officially changed their terms of use of Minecraft to explicitly give permission to monetize videos including content from Minecraft.
Nintendo has allegedly been enforcing the copyright claims, there is little to no information to prove this given the current state of Youtube, however Nintendo has made a previous assault on Youtubers.
Each Youtuber has their own opinion as to why Youtube has done this. Some people believe that media industries have pressured or even forced Youtube into allowing them greater control of copyright, but that doesn't quite make sense, the copyright system hasn't changed at all, people have just been subjected to it while previously evading it. Its alot harder to combat a copyright claim as a single affiliate than as a managed network, you lack power. Others believe that this was Youtube's response to MCNs recruiting people into unfair contracts, after all it's in the MCN guidelines that they should be fair and honest, which they have not. The single fact that the idea of MCNs was rarely spoken of has led to alot of misinformation about this issue. What is clear, however, is that all of this came about after the National Music Publishers Association and multichannel network Fullscreen entered a legal battle.
Here's a few of the videos I've watched: (Ohmwrecker's in my opinion is more informative, but who doesn't love a good Angry Joe rant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQfHdasuWtI (Angry Joe's rant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB9pCFzZfLg (Ohmwrecker's first video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2gswdiH3VE (Ohmwrecker's second video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt1ubSVMwaw (Q&A from Rev3Gaming with various Youtubers)
Larger IGN article:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/13/is-nintendo-claiming-copyright-on-youtube-videos-again
Now i tried to make this contain as little of my opinion as possible, just as much fact as I could pull out from these videos, so I ask, what is your opinion?
Also if you have anything to add, please do so.