There is no credit given for downloads unless by a premium member. No details are available for how often it happens.
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So, do you think we should be encouraging it then? Is it ok to steal if no one notices, or the platform doesnāt police it? Or is the thought that it isnāt stealing?
Education may be a unique use case, unless, of course, the content was being created by a teacher aid channel. In that case I would think it needed to be āpaid forā by watching through the platform. Thoughts?
Encouraging it? No. Is it ok to steal? No.
No, it is the same as running an ad blocker, which also prevents creators from making money (IMO). In retail we used to call this shrinkage. Something merchants have been dealing with forever.
I donāt quite understand your question, but below is a good summary of Fair Use in an education setting (source: University of Chicago). Also, the University of Texas has a good interpretation of Fair Use as it applies to YouTube videos:
using YouTube to demonstrate pedagogical points is fine, however, do not use YouTube videos that contain infringing content just as you would not use any other type of infringing content. YouTube is particularly rife with such material despite YouTubeās best efforts. The best way to handle a YouTube video is to link to it. Using YouTubeās embedded code for linking is ok also; itās just code and YouTube makes it available for users to embed.
In short, showing YouTube videos in a non-profit educational institution (there are slightly different guidelines for online instruction) is lawful. However, this is different than using remixed or otherwise compiled videos that may be on YouTube. Those videos may be violating copyright and therefore should not be shown.
My understanding of the law is that it is fine to show YouTube videos in a non-profit physical educational setting. It is probably preferable to link to the video vs. downloading it but Iāve taken the position that it is lawful to download the video to use for the purpose described to avoid technical problems arising from poor internet connections provided I (or our teachers) do not subsequently distribute the video, that would be a violation of copyright as I understand it.
I hope Iām answering your question. Iām not an attorney and donāt play one on TV so an attorney may wish to chime in. 
Fair Use
Copyright law provides for the principle, commonly called āfair useā that the reproduction of copyright works for certain limited, educational purposes, does not constitute copyright infringement. The Copyright Act establishes a four factor test, the āfair use test,ā to use to determine whether a use of a copyrighted work is fair use that does not require the permission of the copyright owner. The fair use test is highly fact specific, and much can turn on seemingly insignificant variations on the proposed use.
To determine whether a proposed use is a fair use, you must consider the following four factors, on which we elaborate more below:
- Purpose: The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature, or is for nonprofit education purposes.
- Nature: The nature of the copyrighted work.
- Amount: The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
- Effect: The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.
To establish the strongest basis for fair use, consider and apply the four factors along the lines of these suggestions.
- Purpose of the Use
- Materials should be used in class only for the purpose of serving the needs of specified educational programs.
- Students should not be charged a fee specifically or directly for the materials.
- Nature of the Work
- Only those portions of the work relevant to the educational objectives of the course should be used in the classroom.
- The law of fair use applies more narrowly to highly creative works; accordingly, avoid substantial excerpts from novels, short stories, poetry, modern art images, and other such materials.
- Instructors should not distribute copies of āconsumableā materials such as test forms and workbook pages that are meant to be used and repurchased.
- Amount of the Work
- Materials used in the classroom will generally be limited to brief works or brief excerpts from longer works. Examples: a single chapter from a book, an individual article from a journal, and individual news articles.
- The amount of the work used should be related directly to the educational objectives of the course.
- Effect of the Use on the Market for the Original
- The instructor should consider whether the copying harms the market or sale of the copyrighted material.
- Materials used in the class should include a citation to the original source of publication and a form of a copyright notice.
- Instructor should consider whether materials are reasonably available and affordable for students to purchase - whether as a book, course pack, or other format.
But we arenāt encouraging āshrinkageā, are we? And isnāt shrinkage just the corporate way of referring to theft?
Very interesting, thank you.
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In part. Would you be willing to be searched every time you left a grocery store in return for fraction of a percent lower prices? There is no way to eliminate all crime that people would accept.
I hope your son does well with his YT channel.
Thank you for your thoughts.
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Iām a journalist and marketer, which means a good chunk of my income comes from ads. Many people use ad-blockers, which theoretically hurts my income. I just figure thatās part of the ecosystem, and shrug it off. And I use ad-blockers myself.
I figure the same applies to using an app like Downie to download YouTube videos offline. Theoretically I suppose you can make an argument that itās morally wrong but I have bigger moral issues to worry about.