YouTuber Faces Copyright Strikes Over Silent Hill 2 Playthrough Due to AI-Generated Music

In a bizarre twist highlighting YouTube’s ongoing struggle to safeguard its content creators from false copyright claims, a user has faced two separate copyright strikes from different artists due to their playthrough of Silent Hill 2 featuring the song “Promise” by Akira Yamaoka.

What makes this situation even more ludicrous is that neither of the claimants is actually Akira Yamaoka. Instead, they are pushing claims over AI-generated tracks that blatantly mimic Yamaoka’s work. Yet, true to form, YouTube has automatically favored the copyright claimants.

Recently, content creator Nubzombie released a video titled A.I. IS RUINING YOUTUBE (and my life), where they revealed that their playthrough of the original Silent Hill 2 was hit with a copyright strike from an entity called “Agro memos.” In Nubzombie’s video, it’s clear that the track protected by Agro memos is a direct copy of Yamaoka’s “Promise,” but with an AI-generated voice layered on top.

Just hours later, Nubzombie posted a follow-up video explaining that as soon as the first video finished uploading, their Silent Hill 2 playthrough received a second copyright strike. This time, the claim came from another artist named “詹姆斯.K,” who didn’t even bother to disguise the fact that their track is a blatant ripoff of Yamaoka’s “Promise,” as it’s literally titled “Promise.”

While I couldn’t dig up much on the second “Promise” knockoff, I did stumble upon something curious regarding Agro memos. Their latest tracks on YouTube, like this one, mention in the descriptions that they were “Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises.”

The Orchard Enterprises is a branch of Sony Music Entertainment, which has a history of engaging in this kind of behavior, dating back to 2022. In a previous incident, content creator EckhartsLadder detailed how he faced repeated copyright claims from Orchard Enterprises in 2024, as they falsely asserted that the track “Resonance” by HOME, used in his videos, belonged to the Sony Music subsidiary.

While attempts have been made to reach out to Sony Music Entertainment and Orchard Enterprises for clarification, the real issue here stems from YouTube’s lax automatic strike system. This situation is unlikely to improve unless YouTube takes action, which seems improbable given their track record. After all, this is the same platform that allowed an Italian broadcaster to take down Nvidia’s own DLSS 5 announcement video just this week.