YouTube says they’re never going to stop focusing on free content, but they’re also going to try and simultaneously make paid subscriptions work.
YouTube Music Key still isn’t completed, but the platform is planning a new subscription service would extend far beyond music.
According to Bloomberg, YouTube says they’ve signed up creators making up 90 percent of viewed videos for a paid streaming service. Subscribers will be able to watch ad-free videos, store videos for offline viewing, and play videos in the background on mobile devices.
So how has YouTube convinced a majority of creators to sign on to this? They’re telling creators that their videos will not be monetized on the ad supported site if they don’t come to an agreement.
YouTube hasn’t reached agreements with major TV networks like FOX, NBC, and CBS. The TV networks aren’t convinced that whole shows should be put on YouTube.
Bloomberg says YouTube is funding original shows, and over a dozen of them could be released next year. Budgets range from a few hundred thousand to $5 million per show. A lot of these shows will only be available to subscribers.
+What YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Deezer, and TIDAL Are Paying Artists…
I’m not sure why Google has to make everything overly-complicated. Instead of trying to compete with Netflix and Hulu, YouTube should just launch a subscription service that simply removes ads from existing videos. I’ve heard users complain about this missing feature for years.
Bloomberg has been sitting on this information for a while. They say sources informed them in April that YouTube was planning on launching this service by the end of the year.
Image by Alper Çuğun (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC by 2.0)).
“So how has YouTube convinced a majority of creators to sign on to this? They’re telling creators that their videos will not be monetized on the ad supported site”
This is the best news any competing service could hope for.
“YouTube says they’ve signed up creators making up 90 percent of viewed videos”
Interesting — 10% is a lot in that context. A startup can work with that.
…also, keep in mind that the only way to keep your content on YouTube, if you don’t sign, is to make the videos private.
And when you do that, your content is just hosted on YouTube, but no longer available for users.
This means that you can’t use YouTube for anything anymore, unless you sign the infamous contract. And if you do that, you won’t be able to make exclusive releases anymore: Your entire catalog will be available on YouTube on release day. For free!
OMG, YouTube updated its Partner Terms — and apparently in a completely unexpected non-Nazi way:
“Are you requiring partners to upload a certain amount of content or guarantee exclusivity?
There are no minimum content requirements or exclusive arrangements with YouTube in connection with this agreement unless otherwise agreed upon with YouTube.”
Geez man, this changes everything!
Whoa, I might be returning to YouTube fan boy mode. 😐
Link to the YouTube Partner Terms mentioned above:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6156157?hl=en
The big question now is when Facebook launches its music video service.
YouTube has never been less popular among artists than now — FB could destroy it if the timing is right.
Another important question is whether it’s possible to embed Facebook videos on personal websites, Twitter, etc.
Sarah/RepX, if you see this — can video previews be monetized?
—————————————
🙂 The real Anonymous 🙂
hmm…. monetizing video previews honestly isn’t something we’ve paid much attention to – but there’s a way to do everything. If it’s important to artists, we’ll make it an option for you. 🙂
BTW, we’re currently adding independent artists to our site. We’re building up a nice group of high quality professional artists; if you’d like to participate, you should definitely come talk to us.
“If it’s important to artists, we’ll make it an option for you”
Thank you, Sarah! People have all kinds of opinions on this; I personally don’t think it makes sense to stream full versions of songs as long as they’re doing OK, download-wise.
So it’s nice to be able to monetize shorter, promotional versions in the first weeks or months after release. (Usually there’s a min. 30-35 seconds limit. That’s why YouTube trailers often are 33 secs, or something. 🙂 )
Our position is it’s your music, your career, your choice. We’ll give you options (and recommendations as we gather data about what works best), and then you do as you like – that’s between you and your audience.
To make sure I understand: you just want to have short promo videos that are monetized (through ads and/or payments if you choose – up to you)?
“you just want to have short promo videos that are monetized (through ads and/or payments if you choose – up to you)?”
Yes, thank you. 🙂
You got it, my pleasure. Thanks for asking 🙂
The biggest problem is that Google/YouTube won’t protect you from piracy if you don’t sign — that’s one of the ways they try to make you sign.
Content ID is simply not available, and YouTube reacts so slowly to regular take-downs — for obvious reasons — that you may lose millions of potentially monetized views until the illegal content is deleted.
Yep.
Last year they were going after catalog rights, for a 5 year term, just to participate in their pathetic backwashed scheme. Content ID is a salve to the wound that they opened.
Make no mistake, YouTube represents the worst of serial infringement and lobbied, systemic manipulation, abusing safe harbor provision in DMCA is just the beginning.
Any informed and self-respecting artist should cease doing anything with them NOW.
Google has also been caught sending their operatives into libraries across the planet, scanning materials on the sly, inlcuding from special antique collections, and then claiming rights to the digital reproductions. The French government had to admonition them to stop. This company is pure scum.
Are you sure about that? As I recall, in their controversy with Zoe Keating they (YouTube) said that ContentID would still be available to people who opted out of the paid service. The only restriction was that they couldn’t use the ‘monetization’ option. Do you know otherwise?
I just read it again. Participation in Content ID was conditional on the 5 year agreement.
http://zoekeating.tumblr.com/post/108898194009/what-should-i-do-about-youtube
Keep it. If I want to pay for something then I will stick with Hulu and Netflix. Maybe its time to develop a new video sharing platform that doesn’t make users conform to its greedy BS.