So you made this nice AMV or other video using a nice song, but when you try to upload it to youtube they strip out the music or do whatever youtube does these days. Frustrating, right? There's two ways to prevent this kind of thing: use a different song or use a different website. (Well, I suppose you could stop making AMV's altogether, but where's the fun in that?)
Note that it doesn't say how strict the various sites are on copyright enforcement, but saying “we're gonna be pretty lazy when it comes to that” in such a way that it can be cited on Wikipedia would probably get the site into legal trouble.
Using a different song
There are a number of websites that compile Creative Commons licensed and public domain music. Sadly the one I've been using shut down recently due to lack of funding.
Here's a list of songs I found through the FMA. I will be replacing the links with ones that work soon.
Happy/Silly: Simple cheerful Celtic song: Mairi's Wedding by Sláinte Version with Tacoma Youth Chorus Reasons not to want to live in various places: Inertia by Josh Woodward (also slightly shippy) Do not date this woman: Josie Has The Upper Hand by Josh Woodward People who annoy you are just made of cells: Bags of Water by Josh Woodward The chatterbox song: On Brevity by Josh Woodward The Great Big Ice Cream Sundae From Outer Space by Charlie Burgess Mixed Up by Howie Mitchell and Charlotte Williams “Space Amish” refugees from living toy attack. Or maybe it's about nanobots. Or an excess of “smart” devices in your house: Tiny Robot Armies by Quiet Music For Tiny Robots (song isn't that silly in and of itself, but an AMV using it likely will be)
Miscellaneous: Robot/AI wants to rise above their programming: More Than Machine by Quiet Music for Tiny Robots Cherry by Josh Woodward “I'm sorry, your current universe of residence doesn't believe in things like forgiveness”: The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter by Josh Woodward Inspirational: Time To Climb by PC-ONE The singer thinks you should leave that jerk: Shot Down by Josh Woodward Not sure what this is about but it managed to get stuck in my head: Darien Gap by Josh Woodward The anti-nihilist song (TvTropes/All The Tropes definition): Memory Replaced by Josh Woodward Follow the Road by Josh Woodward Don't Close Your Eyes by Josh Woodward Two boys go exploring a ravine. I think you can guess what happens next: Me and Billy Barnum by Josh Woodward The Mission by Josh Woodward Every Time The Son Leaves by Telepathic Teddy Bear The Churches by Telepathic Teddy Bear Ophelia's Song by Musetta – This might actually go in shipping. I could understand a decent percentage of the words, but not enough to actually know what the song is about. NanowaR by NanowaR Of Steel Romance Keys by Click Click Click – from an album of non-silly Halloween music. Near as I can tell, doesn't actually have anything to do with romance or keys. Tell Me What I Want by Isolated Atoms Daydreaming of The South by Bryan Mathys It's Not Hard to Get Lost by Bryan Mathys Wild Heart by Bryan Mathys Good Old Colony Days by Three Jolly Rogues On mourning: A Thousand Skins (Part 2) by Josh Woodward Pale Horse Rider by Vienna Ditto – Woman tries to reason with Death. La Nina Blancaby Vienna Ditto – Trying to get a child who's been through a lot to settle down and go to sleep. (I think this might be about refugees or something like that, but the emphasis is on the emotions involved rather than the situation.)
But what about the people who own the anime?
They are a lot less likely to make a fuss. Someone might, if they want to listen to a certain song, watch an AMV of it instead of buying it off iTunes. (As in: I did stuff like that when I was young and stupid.) Nobody's going to watch AMV's instead of buying a box set of the anime. They might, however, watch an AMV of a series they don't know and then decide to check the series out. To the people who own the rights to the anime, AMV's are basically free advertising.
I don't really consider the list itself "creative" enough for copyright, but for the sake of my comments and the bits of text before and after the list the contents of this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.