Tuesday, October 10, 2006
YouTube's copyright (non)issues
Pud,
Isn't Google worried about YouTube's copyright issues?
Denali
Okay,
Every article and blog posting that mentions YouTube (and now GooTube) says something about "ooh, but what if the scary copyright police strike down on YouTube."
They won't.
So please shut up already.
TV and movie studios know that lots of people are shifting from TV to the Web. And, for now, YouTube is the place where we watch this stuff.
And most importantly, YouTube is trying to play nicely with the studios, working on deals to cut copyright owners in on the ad revenue. This changes the way content producers have been getting paid for the past 50 years. It's not perfect, but you have to admit it's a compelling pitch.
Sure, the studios are a little worried about the shift to the Web. But unlike Napster, which had no clear revenue opportunities, it's easy to put ads on YouTube. It's the studios' wet dream -- not their enemy.
All those YouTube haters? They're just mad knowing that if they started a website that freely distributed copyrighted video, they'd be shut down in a jiffy. And they would, but that's because they're not as smart as YouTube.
YouTube's brilliance? Making friends in high places, not enemies.
Rock on,
pud
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