Goatwhore’s “Apocalyptic Havoc” Video Gets the YouTube Banhammer After 10 Years

2019 has seen a sharp increase in copyright takedowns and demonetization notices on YouTube, with a number of notable content creators vocally complaining about the sometimes draconian regulations placed upon them.

The latest victims of the YouTube Police are Goatwhore, whose ten-year-old video for “Apocalyptic Havoc” — you might know it as “that song with one of the best metal riffs of all time” — was suddenly rendered ineligible to earn revenue from advertising on the platform. While the video is still available for viewing, content creators like Goatwhore and their label, Metal Blade Records, rely on YouTube advertising as one incremental form of income in an increasingly tough economic marketplace for music.

Metal Blade received an email from YouTube that read as follows, the label revealed in a Twitter post:

“After manually reviewing your video, we’ve confirmed that it isn’t suitable for all advertisers. As a result, it will continue to run limited or no ads.

“Your video remains playable and is still eligible to earn subscription revenue from YouTube Red. You can find more information about our advertiser-friendly guidelines in our Help Center.

“Thanks,
The YouTube team”

YouTube has been removing or demonetizing “objectionable” content lately in its efforts to scrub the platform of hate speech, conspiracy theorists and other misinformation — notably resulting in the well-deserved deletion of Varg Vikernes’ channel — but the action against Goatwhore, which was taken manually, is a step too far.

It’s not even clear what could be found objectionable about the video, which is mostly performance-based. Perhaps the upside-down crosses hanging in the background? Scary! There is also this public spreadsheet on which a YouTube user is attempting to keep track of words that can results in demonetization, among them “whore.” Meanwhile, other Goatwhore videos are untouched… so who the fuck knows.

[via Metal Insider]