I worked for many years (hundreds of hours) locating, remastering and uploading content for a fan-based YouTube channel named ‘R.E.M. Archive’. I did 99% of the work and was happy to do this for the huge fan base. I believe the channel existed for about 6 years or so.

I had to use the Wayback Machine in order to find an example screenshot of a video description.

A few weeks ago, I checked the email address associated with the channel and found this email from YouTube.

I followed a link, provided in that email, to fill out an appeal form. I, simply, stated that I’d be willing to make any/all adjustments to make the channel compliant with their policy.

And this was the response I received.

I’m not even mad. I will not fight them. This is utter horse shit.

  •  TheRtRevKaiser   ( @TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org ) English
    4•6 months ago

    Dude, “from the data he provided” is a screenshot of a concert video from Nov 9, 1998 in Stockholm Sweden which (based on a quick search and look through their website) the “REMVideoArchive” site/channel you linked hasn’t uploaded. Neither was an official channel, the one you linked says in their about section that they’re a fansite that archives R.E.M. footage. Don’t accuse somebody of impersonating someone or stealing their work when you have zero evidence of it, that’s absolutely wild that you would do that.