As many of you have probably noticed, the video for "Arrival" (my first original song posted to YouTube) has been made unavailable due to a false copyright infringement claim by somebody named "travis williams". I want to make it very clear that "Arrival" is solely my creation. I did not collaborate with anyone during the writing or recording of the song and video. I even used a copyright service to date-register my creation. There is no way anyone can show proof that they created or possessed this song before me.
Unfortunately, YouTube's policy is to immediately remove any video that is subject to a copyright infringement claim, regardless of whether the claim has any merit. YouTube does this to avoid any legal liability. (They are at risk of being sued if they do not remove material that has been flagged for copyright infringement. The sheer volume of claims that they receive is too much to handle on a case-by-case basis, so all videos that get flagged are removed.) My only recourse is to file a counter-claim and wait for the claimant ("travis williams") to either respond with legal action or ignore the counter-claim, in which case the video should be restored by YouTube within a couple of weeks. I am unsure as to how exactly these next steps will play out, but I am cautiously optimistic that the video will be reinstated.
In the mean time, you can listen to "Arrival" streaming on my MySpace page or support me by purchasing the song from iTunes , Amazon Music , and a number of other music stores. Thanks for your support!
Chris