YouTube is perhaps the most important video platform on the internet, with videos ranging from educational to entertaining, absorbing millions of people's hours a day. It has also adapted over time, with additions like YouTube Shorts and becoming a streaming platform to rival Twitch.
But streams on YouTube are not limited solely to long-term projects like completing video games or hosting chat sessions. Some streams are meant to be background noise, putting listeners in an audio comfort zone. One of the most popular of these is LoFi Hip Hop Radio, which ran into some trouble recently.
The stream, which is broadcast by a channel called Lofi Girl, named for the cartoon character shown onscreen during the stream, is essentially a 24/7 radio broadcast of LoFi hip hop tunes. It's a far cry from videos like Asmongold breaking a controller in rage and serves a different purpose: to put listeners in a calm headspace. However, that headspace was put on hold when the stream was halted due to a copyright strike against the channel, forcing an investigation by YouTube.
The channel denied that the copyright claim had any merit, calling them false copyright strikes and stating hopefully in a tweet that the matter would be sorted out quickly. Fortunately for Lofi Girl, the matter was indeed sorted out, as YouTube found the strike to be unfounded and, according to YouTube's investigation team, abusive. The claimant's channel was removed and the Lofi videos are back up. However, the streams did end in truth, meaning there is now a definitive amount of time that LoFi Hip Hop Radio streamed for: well over 20,000 hours. Bungie sued over false DMCA takedowns of its content on YouTube; only time will tell if Lofi Girl pursues further legal action.
Takedowns of this sort are a very serious matter for the YouTuber in question, especially if they earn their livelihood from the platform. Getting a video demonitized is a constant fear for many contributors, and for those like TheActMan, whose entire channel got demonetized, things can get pretty bleak.
It's important to remember that the dichotomy of content on YouTube is somewhat fragile: great content can only continue to go up, for the most part, as long as it is financially viable for the contributor. Videos like the SNES demake of Elden Ring take time and effort, hence the necessity of recouping the costs at least. But videos like Lofi Girl's hip hop are there as constants, not bright new things, and people have come to rely on them. Hopefully it continues to be a reliable source of chill comfort for the foreseeable future.