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.


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Comments on “YouTube Tries To Shrug Off Napster Comparisons With Legit Deals”

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9 Comments
farlane (user link) says:

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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