The YouTube Warner Deal and The Future of "Show Me" Technologies

According to the Wall Street Journal, YouTube has double pinky swore to Warner Brothers that it will implement some kind of technology in order to credit Warner artists will royalties based on music played on its submitted videos. The deal will surely be the first among many the big labels will be inking with the likes of YouTube and Google Video.

Although this isn't the first time the free transfer of information has been attacked (remember Napster v. Metallica?), it's ramifications could have a much greater reach among the proliferation of "show me" technologies like the posting of personal videos, pictures and music - many of which include derivative works. (Another issue [art form] which has been unduly and systematically attacked by the majors and the RIAA. Remember DJ Danger Mouse and the Grey Album?)

"The new system will give YouTube users a legitimate way to create videos with soundtracks that use music from Warner artists. (Videos of amateurs' lip syncing or juggling to popular songs are among the most viewed on video-sharing sites.) YouTube's system will identify such videos and give Warner a share of the revenue for any ads that appear alongside these videos, if Warner opts for that rather than having the videos removed."

Although this agreement will give YouTube the permission to use Warner properties in "legal" ways, you can't help wondering how permissive Warner will be now they have affirmed ownership and will most likely pull any material used in a fashion that they don't approve - for one reason or another.

But, this isn't a total indictment of the deal. Even though the agreement sets a dangerous precedent, it can be considered a progressive move by Warner, one of the "big 5" major record labels. Warner and YouTube will actually share the revenue produced by ads shown in conjunction with music videos.

That fact that the RIAA or anyone else attempted to pull the site down through litigation before this signals that big music is now starting to "get it", if only a little bit. Only a fool would disregard YouTube's stellar traffic rankings and the potential as a low cost, MAJOR impact advertising venue.

But sites like YouTube, which are devoid of a solid business model, cannot survive forced royalties to Warner, let alone when the other corporate playa haters come calling - EMI, Universal, Sony, BMG [breath] BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, James Hetfield [breath] Harry Fox. Unfortunately, user-generated content sites may have to switch to a subscription-type of service or "pay to post" site which would undoubtedly ruin their web cred and send eyeballs elsewhere.

In order to get some judgment here we need to determine whether the sky is indeed falling - that is, whether these lawsuits will break down the free exchange of ideas across the internet. Fortunately, the legal maneuverings of big business will only curb (temporarily) this trend towards personal presentation (adaptation) online. As users we are inherently more nimble and can change faster than corporations. In other words, keep adapting, keep changing, keep creating and by all means KEEP SHARING!!!

...and one more thing...

If you have a website featuring streaming video through a Flash movie, you can also prepend these videos with as many ads as you like through a digital graft. We can do it. We have the technology. ;-)

Top 10 Video Distribution Websites for Content Producers

We are currently only in the beginning of the internet television revolution and new sites offering the ability for anyone to upload video clips and share them with the world are popping up left and right. If you're a content producer and looking to get thelargest number of people to see your work, you'll have to submit it to each site individually.

With Internet television in it's infancy there is no large audience overlap, some people like youtube, while others prefer yahoo or google video and others are involved with vidilife or daily motion. Plan on submitting your clips individually to each of the sites listed below. Although each video distribution site offers basically the same functionality of clip sharing, they contain distinct differences in everything from audience demographic and social networking features to traffic levels and commercial options.

I've expanded upon each one's unique features and major shortcomings below. They are listed in order of estimated popularity taken from Alexa Traffic Rankings on July 29, 2006

1. YouTube ( Alexa Traffic Rank #16)The largest video distribution site on the Internet. Contains the most sorting options, by group, channel, category, most viewed, best rated, worst rated, and a lot more. Largest selection of videos, profile pages, and subscription options. Public stat reporting and viewing history.

Major Shortcomings

10 minutes video length limit on regular accounts and no ability for users to download videos.

2. Google Video (Alex Traffic Rank unknown, but google.com is #3) Private stat reporting, ability for users to download videos in multiple formats including putting them on their IPOD or PSP. Custom video player and upload tool. Integrated with standard Google account.

Major Shortcomings

No user's profile page, no ability to subscribe to a certain user's video, limited video sorting options (only top 100 and movers and shakers, and by subject). Video thumbnails taken at random from beginning of video clip.

3. Yahoo Video (Alex Rank is unknown, but yahoo.com is #1) Integrated with standard Yahoo account and messenger service. Profile pages, subscribe able user channels. The search feature brings up results from videos hosted on yahoo video and videos on other video distribution sites. Adult and regular content.

Major Shortcomings

Can't save videos to your local computer.

4. AOL Uncut Video (Alexa Traffic Rank is unknown, but aol.com is #35) Lots of traffic, User profile integration with AIM, giving you lots of profile options.

Major Shortcomings

7 min length maximum for video clips. User's can't save clips to their local computer.

5. Ifilm (Alexa Traffic Rank #863) Upload via web. Adult and regular content. Lots of contests to enter and other promotions (site is owned by MTV)

Major Shortcomings

Extremely small video descriptions of only 255 characters. Lots of commercials and ads on website and tons of junk content. Limited profile pages, no subscription options or ability to download individual clips.

6. Daily Motion (Alexa Traffic Rank #1,376) Has more channels then other providers and allows for regular and adult content. Public stats and no length limit on clips. Options to send videos directly from webcam, mobile phone or e-mail. Video size limit is 150 MB which is higher then most of it's competitors. Daily motion is based in , so it's has large audience outside of the and less overlap of videos from other sites like YouTube. Advanced user subscription options including RSS, podcast RSS, and video roll RSS. Active community features with groups and favorites.

Major Shortcomings
Users can't save videos to their local computer.

7. Vidilife (Alexa Traffic Rank #1,583) No video length limits or size limits. Share photos and videos from the same site. Download videos and see public stats, lots of community features like messaging, friends, and blogs. Site contains lots of other features like bulletin, video mail, shoutouts, quizzes, gifts, contest and casino video games that users can play with site currency called vidi$ You can earn vidi$ by commenting on videos and doing other community and site building tasks. Sub domain custom urls for your videos youname.vidilife.com.

Major Shortcomings

There are a lot of videos on the site compared to their traffic levels, so even the most viewed videos for the week receive relatively few views compared to their competitors.

8. Grouper (Alexa Traffic Rank #2,979) Download videos to iPod, PSP or desktop, public stats, profile pages, and subscribable groups for community building. free video editing software.

Major Shortcomings

Slow flash interface that makes searching through large amounts of videos take longer. Low traffic levels compared to the huge amount of videos.

9. Veoh (Alexa Traffic Rank #3,816) Upload any size video easily via a veoh upload tool, ONLY SITE that allows users to download video in original format, so it supports high resolution videos. User's can pick their own thumbnails for their video clips. Profile pages, friends, favorites, messages, and vlog. User subscribe-able videos. Large collections of indie films and shorts available for download in full screen resolution for DVD burning.

Major Shortcomings

Traffic levels lag behind competitors.

10. Revver (Alexa Traffic Rank #5,191) Upload any length video via the revver client software. Allows users to choose their own thumbnail. You get paid for your clips performance. Revver puts ads at the end of each clip. Every time someone clicks on them after your video is over you get paid for it. Fast approval time for videos. Users can download videos and share them on P2P networks and the ad and money system still works. Contains the highest ratio of actual user created content compared to tradditional regular broadcasting.

Review of YouTube, Internet Television and Video Distribution Site

Youtube is the most popular internet television or video distribution site on the Internet and currently ranks number 16 on Alexa for most visited websites. YouTube offers anyone with an internet connection the ability to upload video clips and share them with friends, family, and the world, all for free. Users are invited to leave comments, pick favorites, send message to each other and watch videos sorted into subjects or channels. Videos are served with Adobe Flash are viewable on almost any modern computer.

For Content Producers

Pros

Fast video approval time, they basically approve anything, even copyrighted material (copyrighted material may eventually get pulled or deleted if they catch you). YouTube receives lots of visitors so your videos have the potential to get viewed a TON of times, especially if your video makes it on one of the top viewed, or most discussed video lists for the week, month, or for all time. Each content producer gets their own profile page and unique channel where users can subscribe to your content and be alerted whenever you upload a new video.

Cons

Limited file size of 100 Megs and a limited video length of 10 minutes. For longer lengths you have to apply for a director's account and wait for approval. You video is served in Adobe Flash, so the resolution is downgraded. Tons of garbage content so your video may get "lost" in a sea of people lip singing and boot shake videos. Content creators receive no compensation and users can't download your video to their computer.

For Content Consumers

Pros

There are lots of videos to watch. Being the 16th most popular site on the internet, you get the largest total amount of videos and video creators. This site is even more popular then Google video. Users can embed videos in their regular blogs, Myspace, or on their personal websites. You can subscribe to your favorite content producers and receive notifications whenever they post anything new. They have the most substantial set of video lists I've seen on any video distribution site. You can view videos sorted by most recent, most viewed, top rated, most discussed, top favorites, most linked, recently featured, worst rated, by category, by groups and by channel (every user has their own channel). Each one of those lists can further be divided by date range, giving you lots of different ways to sort through the vast amount of clips there.

Cons

You can't download the movie clips to your personal computer. You can "save" them to your favorite and create play lists etc, but there is no easy way to say burn them on a DVD and watch the videos on your regular TV. Almost all of the videos are short amateur clips, meaning that most of the content is relatively low quality. So you'll have to sort through tons and tons of junk to find anything good, not to mention lots of it is just copies of things broadcasted on regular television, so you'll spend a bunch of time watching tiny net videos which are "old" traditional broadcasting content.

Community

Lots of comments and discussion, but the site doesn't feature any long articles or any substantial reviews, so most comments consist of one sentence or two sentences. Their site offers, favorites, Groups, message, inbox, playlists, and user profiles, the standard set of customized community features that are on almost all social networking sites, via it be myspace or any one of it's many clones.

Comparison with other online video distribution sites:
Youtube has the most content, but if you want to save a copy to your personal computer try Google Video or Veoh. Veoh actually lets you download the video in its original resolution (very nice) and doesn't contain any length or size limits. As of now, it still consists mostly of the same type of videos as all of the other similar sites though.

Overall Value

Youtube is a fun site and everyone should visit it at least once. Don't expect it to replace your normal viewing patterns anytime soon and be prepared for juvenile comments, and lots of bad karaoke videos, but there are some interesting clips there and viewing amateur content is surprising addicting. Don't think YouTube is the end all of Internet tevision though, I would highly recommend you also check out their major competitors (Google Video, Veoh, Yahoo Video, and Addicting Clips just to name a few)

All the community features could potentially be very cool and useful, but currently I don't think most users will want to take advantage of them, considering the quality of most of the video content. How many people's vblogs of them singing and dancing do you actually want to subscribe to? This will almost certainly change as the internet television revolution continues.

If you are promoting your own videos make sure to setup an account, but don't put all your eggs in this basket either, make sure you post your video other places too. YouTube is the most popular, but there are lot of major players in the Internet Television and Video Distribution Market.

Future of YouTube

The future of YouTube seems to be uncertain, they are currently being sued and have yet to come up with a successful business model, they are for now going to try and sell advertising. Most of the content they carry consists of stuff ripped off from conventional television or amateur user created videos like people's v blogs, or webcam singing and dancing. The copyright violations have led to a few lawsuits, including one that is currently pending right now. The website repeatedly gets asked to remove content and without viable a revenue model is hard to manage. With bandwidth needs rising rapidly, YouTube's future is uncertain in its current state. With so much demand and traffic YouTube is definitely not going to go away, but may work substantially different in the very near future.