DeoxysPrime, which has a 165,000-subscriber YouTube account with all kinds of video game soundtracks, has had to remove its entire Nintendo music library after receiving more than 500 active company copyright claims .
They were not hosting commercially available album uploads; rather, like the rest of their channel (which we’ve presented on the site before!), they had uploaded the full soundtracks to titles like Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon taken directly from the games themselves. In a statement posted to Twitter on May 30, they wrote:
With immediate effect, I will remove all Nintendo music from my channel. With more than 500 complaints and a dozen soundtracks blocked over the past week, it’s clear they don’t want their music on YouTube. I’m sorry for all those who enjoy their music, but I don’t have much choice.
I have no intention of deleting my channel and the rest of my non-Nintendo soundtracks will remain in the foreseeable future. It’s frustrating, but as I said before, it’s ultimately your choice to block your music on the platform.
Good luck to anyone who doesn’t have Nintendo music on YouTube yet. Many of these soundtracks have never had official releases. But as the larger channels than mine have been affected before the ones that finally take their place will also end up like this.
In a follow-up message posted on their YouTube page, they say:
Again, I’m sorry about the inconvenience this can cause, as I enjoy listening to Nintendo music here as much as all of you, but it makes no sense to continue like this.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter for any other updates, and as a general reminder, if you see any soundtrack removed from my channel, you can always assume it was for copyright reasons. Be respectful of your right to do so, but also please continue to pressure Nintendo to release their music in official formats, because there is no reason for these soundtracks to disappear forever. Thanks.
Some of the soundtracks that have been removed include Smash series, Donkey Kong Country games, Wind Waker, F-Zero series, and most modern Mario and Mario Kart games.
As they say, Nintendo, if you’re going to do this, please at least post these soundtracks in official formats (albums! Spotify!), Because I’m tired of having to link to this old post all the time.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has pointed to a major music channel recently. In January, GilvaSunner received more than 1,300 copyright blocks, saying at the time: “I’m not … I’m not angry or surprised that Nintendo is doing this, but I think it’s a little disappointing that there’s almost no alternative “.