What is Digg?41 Comments
- MuddyPitch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15There's a great cultural 'history repeats itself' thing happening here. In the 1960's, while Rock 2.0 (bear with me) was starting to take off, all these acts from The Dead to The Airplane to Pink Floyd, were often playing free shows in venues like Golden Gate Park. The idea was to put on free, or at least damn cheap, shows for the people to come out and dig. It really wasn't about making money. By the late '60's and into the early '70's when all these bands started to become huge worldwide, the shift went from just playing some music and having a good time, to '*****, thousands of people want to come out and see our shows. We can make a lot of money off this.'
- PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12And they ended up charging $200 to go and see their shows.
I'm not sure that's quite where we want to go with this. - Panoctopi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Ze Frank is hilarious. As for the subject matter, it's obvious that talented people that put great creative content should get payed for it, but I doubt that they'll get it from us... their best bet is ad revenue. There's a fine balance between getting paid and selling out that needs to be observed closely.
- TheDrinkNinja, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9S-s-s-somethin' from the comments.
- wisewaif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8What most video bloggers don't understand, as far as revenue from their projects in the long term, is that who would want to purchase a Rocketboom from two years ago centering on some fad of the time?
The problem with most video blogs, is that most of the content is centered on the ephemeral and the internet intestines instead of creating a long-term vision.
The one's that aren't and are trying to create excellent content, such as TIki Bar, make more sense, as it is a genuine attempt to make something that is not stuck in this nanosecond. Someone might want to buy all of the Tiki Bar seasons on one Blueray disk for $20 down the road.
I think what the next generation of video blogs are going to be about is a direct attack on the networks, and as costs for equipment lowers, niche shows in long format will appear, and be able to make a dent in the long term.
I mean, can anyone really name their favorite episode of Rocketboom and justify in some way why it is worth more than 20 cents? Present video bloggers should be more interested in trying to make money now, rather than sitting on "archives" that will be of interest only to internet scholars of the future. - dogfood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm going to use Revver from now on, screw Youtube. Very cool that people are able to make real money off of the work they put into these videos.
- MrAndrews, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8@MuddyPitch: That's one of the benefits of the whole internet distribution system... the cost of holding those concerts is virtually nothing these days. Now if everyone could wrap their minds around small voluntary payments for media they enjoy (which is hard given lawsuits and other **AA shenanigans), people like Ze Frank could earn a good living and still feel a bit less reluctant about giving stuff away (not that he's really doing much to enforce protection at the moment). If I make a short video and it's enjoyed by 100,000 people worldwide (not that hard to do when it's just a simple download), if every one of those people paid $1, I'd be doing rather well. It's the same idea as the "we can make a lot of money off this", except it's kept very reasonable and subtle, and you depend more on volume than price to pay the bills. We're still not there, but we're inching closer. There's actually a brand value in being that 60's band in this current web culture... the "Don't Be Evil" line is a powerful idea. I hope it doesn't wear off any time soon. We could make it work a lot better this time around.
- CultureBully, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There's an interesting division between those who wish for ultimate control over their work and those that want instant interweb-fame. As MySpace and YouTube (and other such sites) morph their policies to benefit their respective companies it will become vital that more people find alternate ways to "become famous."
Or you could avoid trying to find fame on MySpace & YouTube by create an interesting, refreshing video cast each day, like Ze, and find yourself the center of attention from fans and media like. - wisewaif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I understand this, but you miss my point. Rocketboom, Twit, et al create content that ha a half life usually of about a week. No one is going to go back and listen to Adam Curry's rant on October 15th 2005, mainly because the format of the show is not conducive to a long term view.
I guess you can argue that going back to see what people were interested in on October 15th 2005 is similar to newspapers, but it really isn't. People look to newspapers usually for verified facts, information, not opinion.
And the analogy to backcatalog doesn't work either for ephemeral content. Again, who will want to pay more than 20 cents for an episode of an October 15th 2005 episode of Rocketboom 4 or 5 years from now?
The money is to be made is for content that is more investigative and not reactive to the present moment's hot clicks. Create content that has worth in the traditional sense, and people will flock to you.
For an example, we interviewed the founder of Constellation Records a few months ago:
http://75minutes.com/podcast/15-minutes-w-constellation-records/
It's a niche thing that only a few post-rock fans are interested in, but it was our most popular show, as people found real content in it, and reacted greatly to it. Content is king, but certain content works better than others long term. - dmoore764, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This Revver idea is genious. If each uploader had an account that every few weeks or so would get paid a few cents for every 1000 hits, who is going to upload to Youtube anymore? Not me, especially if I am proud of the video I made.
- bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ze's going to regret putting himself in the position where he's gotta use these catch phrases...
You hear a little sigh every time the SP guys have to say "Oh my god, they killed Kenny" - jewster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3whats your power move?
- wisewaif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Good points Seizure.
The assumption right now from everyone, is that they are just trying to get as many eyeballs as possible, and somehow the money will come maybe sorta, when people recognize what you do. But as you say, we're living in a YouTube world, and with people abel to strip out commercials as easy as a double click, the sustainability comes into question, as does the advertisers patience for this weird new format.
I think ABC (or was it CBS) got on the right track when they released their shows online, but forced people to watch an ad that could not be skipped. The more you can control your content in this way, the more you can win over advertisers once the eyeballs stay with you.
My only point would be that an episode of Lost is different than a episode of Rocketboom as far as long term worth, and once the new media revolution starts crossing over as far as quality of content, then the playing field can be truly evened out. - MuddyPitch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Agreed. Agreed. I wrote that as kind of a veiled warning. History's repeating itself, but it doesn't have to completely repeat itself. It's nice being in this little geek bubble, if you will, we're currently in, but it's just a matter of time before this goes really mainstream. Now, we can say "we won't be evil. we're not going to repeat the mistakes of the past", etc. But how will we feel in about ten or twenty years when we're older and our standards have relaxed? In a lot of ways, that's what happened with the Boomers. They reached a certain age and were like "meh". Personally, I look towards some of our elder geeks like, say, Doc Searls or Dave Winer. Throughout the years they have mostly stuck by their ethos. In twenty years time, what can we expect from Kevin Rose? Will he be charging us $200 to log onto digg v20? Or is everybody really going to stick by the "Don't Be Evil" mantra? We have all come to define ourselves by that mantra...
- revilo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You actually make about 8.20$ ever 1000 views. at least that is what I made...
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2[quote]It's nice being in this little geek bubble, if you will, we're currently in, but it's just a matter of time before this goes really mainstream.[/quote]
There will always be an underground.
You seem to believe that underground music/culture has disappeared in the face of mainstream music and internet media. That is not true at all. The only thing that has disappeared is those old hippies who all became Yuppies. But a new generation came after them, and there will continue to be new generations that still resist the mainstream.
Today, the "hippies" might look a little different, might not make all the same mistakes the old hippies did (such as running away instead of fighting), but the same old spirit is there. The mainstream can never replace it, because it is AGAINST the mainstream, and it is still not being done strictly for $$$. The mainstream can only imitate it, but the imitation will always be obvious, and will always be one step behind.
Don't dwell in the past so much, the battle continues... - grayapple, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Who likes the little little duckies in the pond? I do I do I do, a chick-a-quack quack.
- mos6507, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is a problem here. These sites are closer to P2P networks than they are indie video publishing/distribution, especially those that allow you to download the file. In other words, it's a loosely moderated free-for-all. How do you share profit with someone when you can't tell for certain whether he even owns the copyright of the video he uploaded? You'll have people getting paid for uploading a file that could have come from anywhere including DVD and TIVO rips.
- grayapple, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ahhh, that Ze - He thinks so we don't have too.
- platypibri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In regards to some things said above. A buck a view is way too much, but I've often felt that what the 'Net needs is some universal method of payment that will allow us to conveniently pay only a few cents for things like video views and podcasts. If you got 100,000 people to view your video for a penny a pop, that's a grand right there. If you can make something like "Ask A Ninja", that'd be worth a nickel, and one a month would make a pretty nice career. I'd pay a nickel for "Ask A Ninja". Heck, I'd pay a dime to listen to TWiT. With the numbers they claim, at a dime a download, that'd be over 31 grand an episode. They probably wouldn't even need the AOL bandwidth food stamps anymore. Just make it easy to pay a few cents and "viral" becomes "Viable".
- bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah dugg for the columnist recognising ZeFrank's comedic (and all round) genius...
Real content providers do need to figure out an income strategy for content in the coming years - it seems aggregators are getting all of the traffic, and google is rewarding blog spamming.
People have gone centuries creating a few pieces of greatness every year (albums/artwork/inventions etc), and suddenly you're pushed to the bottom of the pile in googles eyes by the barrage of daily 'blog news' posting nonsense, and to the bottom of the pile in aggregator's eyes by not being 2 hour old bleeding edge news.
The internet is starting to reflect the cold economic climate of the real world: owners of sparse open places devoid of real content, but full of people thrive on the hard work of others (bars/malls/warehouse stores AKA aggregators) - Snyder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ze Frank thinks so I don't have to... and I love how he responds to s-s-s-somethin from the comments!
- pinoyazrael, on 02/26/2009, -0/+1if you got a few concert that you have film yourself then you can easily make money here!
http://www.ridiculousblogger.com - Seizure, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People who put out podcasts have many ways to pull in some money. Advertising is the obvious choice. However, as someone did mention before, there is a line between paying the bills and being a money whore.. If you try to pull in every penny you can off a show by telling me who the show was brought to by, then going into a minute long commerical dead in the middle of the production, and finally ending it with yet another shameless plug, you're selling out. If you just put a link on your page or an ad at the end though, I consider that to be a fair, nonintrusive way of paying for the costs of the show and the living expenses of the people involved (it doesnt take a studio full of guys to make a podcast).
Another option would be making the viewers themselves pay. The question here is not whether people would see a great show, but whether they would pay to have a great show with no advertisements. If I had to choose between giving a podcaster a dime to watch each episode and letting him/her put in a 5 second ad at the end, I'd take the ad. In any case, piracy suddenly becomes a concern for podcasters who choose this route. In a free podcast with ads, piracy is not an issue. Yes, podcasters depend on downloads from iTunrs or Juice to bring in advertising dollars, but at the same time pirates have no reason to steal the content because it is being distributed openly anway. In a PFV podcast, suddenly pirates actually have cause to distribute the videos on limewire or the pirate bay, which will ultimately hurt the podcast's weekly income.
One last option that i havent heard discussed here is merchandising. Popular shows like Pure Pwnage don't show any advertisements at all, but instead bring in money off of the sale of shirts, hats, and autographed bandanas. These days, one can have shirts made to say just about anything without needing to buy by the truckload. Because of this, even small podcasters can afford to design and buy a couple boxes of shirts to sell to fans.
Ze Frank was right when he said that you shouldn't take your penis out in public. Moreover, he was right when he said that copyrights are becoming a concern for independant mediateers. With popular sites like youtube, anyone can upload a podcast someone else made for other people to watch. However, since some people prefer live streams to a download service, people will view the youtube version and advertisers will try to discount the people watching the pirated video to cut advertising costs.
IN SUMMARY
Sports Racers have to make sure that their content it under the protection of the League of Awesomeness or else the hard chargers will take their duckies away. - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We've got far worse things to worry about, such as net neutrality. You don't have to worry about the advertizers, the ads can easily be added. If they're not too annoying, people will watch them. Other ways of generating revenue could also eventually be added, such as sponsorship in the real world, live events, merchandise, etc.
The best part really is that the censors and middle-men will be cut out of the process. It will be the content producers getting the profits directly based on popularity, rather than distribution.
But once again, net neutrality is what we really have to worry about. Without it, we would be back to limited distribution channels controlled by middlemen again, rather than unlimited global distribution controlled by the hosts. We've got to keep the AT&Ts of the world out of it. - pixelfox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the only good thing about the internet is that if they were going to try and charge godlods of money (which they probably wouldn't do) there are plenty of ways to get around it. I mean, you can find a torrent and multiple downloads sites for practically any movie.
- budsstud26, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1truly, that is the ONLY good thing about the internet: it gives you the ability to easily steal content.
- bhar100a, on 02/20/2009, -0/+0I don't know how to make money with u tube. http://www.bahrainpropertyworld.com/bahrain-living ...
- chanceyDP, on 02/18/2009, -0/+0make money with youtube is very easy
http://www.paulubiadas.com - angler8890, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0These days, one can have shirts made to say just about anything without needing to buy by the truckload. Because of this, even http://www.ggmk.info/sitemap.htm small podcasters can afford to design and buy a couple boxes of shirts to sell to fans.
Good post!! - ecdkey08, on 02/21/2009, -0/+0nice article about a money maker
http://www.ecdkey.com - newcamile, on 06/16/2009, -0/+0Nice article !...but.. I’m a new blogger and I'm confused u_u , all webpages talk about making money for hosting videos, but not all of them are good and I have a lot of ideas. My brother recommended me to visit www.vismomedia.com, he said I’ts a good webpage for bloggers. What’s your opinion ¿?
- batismer08, on 02/25/2009, -0/+0Good article about youtube
http://www.actionprintinginc.com - yellowseodp, on 02/26/2009, -0/+0Good money making story
http://www.yellowseo.com - freedp08, on 02/26/2009, -0/+0Youtube makes much money
http://www.search24online.com - sansbury, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0One of the few places newspapers are making good money online is by selling access to their archives. Record companies make huge profits on their back catalogs. Antique stores sell old crap for 100x what it originally cost plus interest....
- EnterDaMatrix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2The Grateful Dead never stopped playing free shows. Or allowing and facilitating people to record their shows, and distribute them as they liked. Truth is The Dead had such a huge payroll that they barely made any money until the 90s. They were constantly touring just to stay financially afloat. But for the other listed bands you are correct. Also I've never heard Jefferson Airplane revered to as "The Airplane". At least you didn't say "The Floyd"
- eizooo, on 10/12/2007, -16/+1ze frank sucks. not worth watching it
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