The Revolution Begins

Jeremi just forwarded this article, which announces that YouTube is now planning on revenue sharing with customers.

“In terms of paying users revenue against the content that they are uploading, we definitely are going to be moving in that direction,” said YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland over the weekend. The mechanics of the revenue sharing system have not been disclosed.

At the moment it appears that the revenue sharing will be limited to revenues from YouTube's advertising business. But with the announcement of the launch of premium content via partnerships with companies like CBS and Sony BMG, the pool of revenue potentially to be shared is far greater than the comparatively small dollars YouTube is currently pulling in from banner ads.

With consumers -- whether amateur, film students, and even Hollywood pros -- now able to post any quick and simple (or long and complex) video online -- and actually pull down a profit from it, in realtime -- how long is it going to be before YouTube starts incorporating the best of the uploaded videos into their Premium Content area... and sharing the larger revenues accordingly?

And with anyone able to submit a video and potentially make serious money off it, how long is it going to be before the content quality becomes significantly improved to the point where Hollywood starts getting worried?

Years, probably, but with home video software even right now allowing anyone with a decent digital videocamera to edit together some pretty decent movies and special effects, in the very near future it may be becoming far more difficult for massive networks like NBC to justify why talented writers and directors need to head out to California, have their pet projects torn apart in committee, and then take home only a fraction of the dollars made off of their creativity.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year is "You"? Good call, but the real revolution of content distribution has barely even begun.