You don't need to be part of YPP to use custom thumbnails, you just need to have a verified YouTube account (http://youtube.com/verify ) – these are the steps to verify your account: https://goo.gl/3iMkBG https://twitter.com/Diane_Banks/status/953534796256378880 …
Also will we be able to fight off content-id claims still? Just because I'm not earning ad revenue doesn't mean I want some fake company coming around claiming they own the video I earned to create earning money off my hard work.