YouTube Tries To Shrug Off Napster Comparisons With Legit Deals

from the no,-we-want-to-make-money dept

Thu, Mar 30th 2006 10:07am — Carlo Longino

A lot of people have labeled YouTube "the Napster of video" given the way it lets users share copyrighted content. But the company is showing a willingness to work with copyright holders to remove infringing materials, and also to legitimately promote their content. YouTube has now announced a deal with E!, where it will serve as a collection and sharing point for user-created content based around a segment of the show The Soup. This follows an earlier deal with MTV2, where the network is promoting DVD releases by uploading clips to YouTube, and the announcement yesterday that YouTube would put a 10-minute cap on uploads to try to keep people from sharing full-length movies and TV shows. Clearly YouTube is trying to drum up some legit business by working with the entertainment industry. There's a danger that users could perceive the deals as changing YouTube from being a community into a site that exists solely to deliver eyeballs to particular marketers, and that perception could hurt YouTube. The E!, deal, however, does revolve on users sending in their own videos, and focuses on the sharing aspect rather than just promotion, which is a wiser choice.

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9 Comments

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Jordan Biehl, 30 Mar 2006 @ 10:38am

Good
Sounds like a legitimate reason to limit the videos to ten minutes. Although what if you want to upload a wedding or a birthday party for a friend who could not attend. Would you be forced to split it into ten minute clips? Or is there a way that Youtube dicerns between copywrite and non-copywrite material?
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mous, 30 Mar 2006 @ 10:52am

how come just as I start using something I all of a sudden gets... like... attacked.
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GRUMPY OLD MAN, 30 Mar 2006 @ 11:44am

Longer Videos
I believe you can post longer videos, you just have to make special request to do so, if I read the announcement correctly.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2006 @ 12:00pm

Add amateur adult content and start charging a per-view fee. Who wants to watch a fat kid pretend to be Darth Maul? I want to see amateur housewives getting facials!
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- Nismoto, 30 Mar 2006 @ 12:22pm
  
  Re:
  Who wants to watch some fat skank pretend to be a sexy?
  
  I want to watch fat kids play Darth Maul and Korean girls karaoke!
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- Bogamol, 30 Mar 2006 @ 12:46pm
  
  Re:
  There are enough internet businesses out there peddling that crap, go solicit them. Nobody is stopping you. Leave YouTube to the people that do enjoy their current content.
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Anonymous Cowards, 30 Mar 2006 @ 2:11pm

What about a fat kid playing Darth Maul giving a facial to lip syncing Korean pre-teens! Now THAT is hot!
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- Adam, 30 Mar 2006 @ 4:05pm
  
  Re:
  Has it ever occurred to you that 'Barely Legal!' is the same thing as 'Nearly Pedophile!'
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farlane, 30 Mar 2006 @ 4:42pm

That Ice Won't Break
Napster's core was music, which everybody knows is the realm of no-goods and crooks. It's also very easy to take music (and music sharing) into the back alley and choke it to death.

Video, on the other hand, doesn't die as quietly. It's loud and flashy. Add to that the fact that YouTube is a public app, on thousands and thousands of blogs. I don't think even the MPAA is crazy enough to go after YouTube.

It'd be like Rodney King ... only way bigger.
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