YouTube Tries To Shrug Off Napster Comparisons With Legit Deals

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

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.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    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?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    mous, 30 Mar 2006 @ 10:52am

    how come just as I start using something I all of a sudden gets... like... attacked.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    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!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    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!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    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!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Adam, 30 Mar 2006 @ 4:05pm

    Re:

    Has it ever occurred to you that 'Barely Legal!' is the same thing as 'Nearly Pedophile!'

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.