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Great news! I'm trying to get a few remixers to finish up their polish critique changes on their pieces/tracks and we should have 5 more tracks done with the album, which puts us up to 26 finished tracks for the album! And if you'll notice, I replaced the Epilogue track from Disc 3, move Theme of Reflection from Disc 1 to Disc 3 and put Ophanin's Dungeon Cave track at the end of Disc 1. So that's going to be one more finished track for the album in hopefully a few weeks! We're nearing the end everyone. We have 4 more tracks left to claim! Let's get this finished for 2018! Woooo!!!

I give consent - monetize my remixes. Do it. I'm with you with regards to YT's sudden monetization of everything all at once... seems sketch. Either way - I feel like a ReMix is a donation and you can do as you like with it. So engage the muns.

Hopefully we can avoid a repeat of the drama that occurred on a previous thread discussing this matter. On Tuesday of last week, all videos on our channel mysteriously had ads enabled without any action on our part; previously ads were limited to a small percentage of videos from artists who had opted in, so we could get some metrics. We have disabled all ads as of today, including for videos that previously had them enabled. This batch change is currently processing on YouTube. We did inquire with YouTube/Google as to how this change could have happened, as none of us made it directly or intentionally, but they couldn't help us: It's difficult to understand how an entity so large wouldn't track such actions on a per-user basis, but it's apparently the case. TL;DR; what's changed since the last time we had this conversation is that OverClocked ReMix is now a project of Game Music Initiative, Inc, a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization... We've got a board of directors that has met three times this year, we've got separate bank accounts that are not in my name or included on my personal income taxes, no single individual can sell the domain or its intellectual property, and there are legally-binding rules about how the money can be spent, and for what, above and beyond the existing content policy. While the ads were not enabled intentionally, we waited to hear back from Google before disabling them, because we wanted metrics for the entire channel being ad-enabled and because the original plan was to wait for 501c3 status and then revisit the topic. Our submission agreement has always allowed for advertising in the context of mixes, so long as that revenue is used for the site: Originally this change rubbed some folks the wrong way and there were heated words about how YouTube ads were somehow profoundly different than website ads; I'm not sure if anyone still feels that way, but either way, "context" is an umbrella term that was never intended to be limiting. The Internet changes and we need to change with it, as best we can. So, basically: We have removed almost all ads from our websites. We only want to run promotions for VGM & related stuff that's relevant, and keep that minimal and non-intrusive. Right now, GMI & OCR are funded primarily by our support on Patreon (you gals & guys are the best!) However, I've never been comfortable with a single point of failure, and feel like YouTube ads are a good secondary source of support. From the last week of metrics, full ad-enablement on YouTube adds up to about $25 a day, give or take. For any one artist, myself included, this would be less than a dollar a month. In addition, YouTube ads *apparently* help SEO and enhance the visibility/reach of the videos, which is important. I'd like to reach a point with artists where we've built enough trust, through our words and actions but also our new legal status, where this change is understood and appreciated, but we should by all means continue the conversation and see where it takes us. We previously committed to: Filing for 501c3 status in this calendar year. (DONE) Updating the content policy with clarifying language surrounding "advertisements in the context of submitted material" meaning more than just banner ads, with YouTube as a specific example. (PENDING) Reaching out to artists via forum email addresses, social media, etc. for additional feedback on this topic prior to enabling ads on the back catalog of 3000+ videos. (THIS THREAD + NOTIFICATIONS)

I also continue to give consent. In the spirit of the season feel free to Ho' out my remix for the benefit of the site.

I appreciate the transparency and the timely response from the opening post. Goes a long way to gain trust (not that I needed that). While the Youtube ads increasingly annoy me (especially those in the middle of a video, yuck), I still have no issue with monetising the videos if it ensures a continued existence of the community.

#1 was a legitimate misjudgment on our part - my part - as to the timing of going live to get basic metrics vs. a full roll-out, and how that would be perceived; I'd need to review the full thread again to remember if I apologized for that misjudgment, but if I didn't, I do. A good faith assumption was all it took to understand what happened, and we didn't get a good faith assumption from some folks, but ideally we wouldn't put ourselves in a position to NEED a good faith assumption #2 never made any sense to me, personally; whether we pay for YouTube or not is irrelevant. That's basically saying you should only run ads on the platforms that represent an expense to you, and only use revenue generated on any platform to pay for that platform, and nothing else? That's NEVER been true, because even a decade ago, when it was just banner ads, we used funds for promotional runs of physical albums as prizes at conventions.... so that's using web ads to pay for something not strictly related to web hosting. This conceptualization of funding & expenditure is very odd/rigid/limiting... #3 is worth talking more about, I think. We have no intention of ever enabling unskippable ads, so those are off the table. #4 tell me about it...

Ideally, I think, we'd like to avoid adding too much additional administrative-type items for staff to have to continually maintain. I feel like we'd be better spending more time on moar music & artist promotion than going back and forth with enabling ads. Also, I took it as $25 for global ads on (EDIT: not including unskippables), so waiting for times to get tight (which hopefully they don't) before turning them on seems like it would be a case of too little too late. But yeah, personally I never had an issue with enabling them on mixes in the first place - especially considering the funds fully go to, as ad revenue always has gone to, maintaining & promoting the site itself.

I will never get why people have an issue with OCReMix monetising their videos and website. Us artists/remixers get a lot of exposure to a great and supportive community – all without paying a single dime. Why not show some gratitude by helping to fund the website?

I never really understood the issue with ads on YouTube videos given that we had Google ads on individual remix pages for years. Advertisements presented in the context of individual remixes is nothing new; I guess it feels different to people now because YouTube is huge and "monetization" is a word people throw around all the time now. I'm a little annoyed with Google/YouTube and their mysterious enabling of ads, ESPECIALLY the unskippables. I agree with Dave that it's kind of shocking they don't have logs or an audit trail mechanism for that kind of thing. Kind of concerning, TBH. In any case, while I wish we had more time to prepare for it, what's done is done. Now that GMI is officially a 501c3, I hope that folks will be on board and won't raise a fuss. Like I said, this isn't actually anything new. I never had problems with ads on the remix pages, so I don't see why I'll have a problem with ads on my mixes.

OC ReMix Announces Official 501c3 Non-Profit Status as Project of Game Music Initiative, Inc November 24th, 2017 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA... OverClocked ReMix today announced its status as a fully-sponsored project of Game Music Initiative, Inc (GMI), a newly-formed 501c3 non-profit charitable organization devoted to the promotion of video game music as an art form. Established on November 26th, 2016, the mission of GMI is as follows: EDUCATE the world about game music as an art form, PROMOTE game music and game composers, RESEARCH game music and contribute to the body of free and open knowledge, PRESERVE the history of game music and archive relevant artifacts, PROVIDE resources for existing and aspiring game composers, PROTECT the right to explore game music through transformative works and assistive technologies, and SUPPORT any projects that advance these goals. OverClocked ReMix founder David W. Lloyd expressed his enthusiasm about this development and the need for such a transition: "For seventeen years, OverClocked ReMix has been a community effort, but has been owned by a single individual, myself, and not officially registered as a 501c3 charitable organization. Game Music Initiative was created to support this project, and others like it in the future, and provides permanent assurance of non-profit status while also enhancing financial transparency & operational continuity," Mr. Lloyd noted. "This transition paves the way for exciting developments ahead, makes all donations from US citizens tax deductible, and builds on the foundation of trust and long-term commitment that OC ReMix has developed since 1999." More information about GMI, including its board of directors, can be found at https://gamemusic.org. An FAQ is available and will be updated to address any questions surrounding this change of status. About OverClocked ReMix Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix (http://ocremix.org) is a community featuring thousands of free fan arrangements & albums, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. About Game Music Initiative Established in 2016, Game Music Initiative (https://gamemusic.org) is a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization dedicated to the promotion, preservation, research, & celebration of video game music.