Here's an interesting perspective (excerpt from Reuters, via CNN, below) on everybody's current darling, YouTube.

While I am not an expert, I agree with Mark Cuban (here's his original blog post on the issue, titled The Coming Dramatic Decline Of YouTube).  There's a lot of activity with respect to sharing and distributing content that has yet to be brought to heel, but that will be (in some form or other) when legislation and DRM (digital rights management) starts catching up with some of that activity.

That said .. I also believe that the fundamentals of intellectual property and digital rights legislation must be changed in significant ways so as to minimize the possibility that only a few large companies own almost all intellectual property.  I don't think there's any option ... the digital infrastructure is there, the tools are available and cheap, and as Cuban points out ... "User-generated content is not going away".

When only a few large companies own the rights to most content, soporific or dead cultures are the eventual result ( a perspective examined in significant detail in the book Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law To Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, by Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, who is the creator of the concept of Creative Commons, and probably the world's leading expert and advocate for major change to existing IP and DRM legislation).

That may happen ... the last twenty years' evolution in the television business is not a stellar advertisement for hope ... but I tend to believe that some day effective compromises will have to be worked out that acknowledge, facilitate and support the ongoing popularity and use of much amateur content in commercial settings and ways.

Cuban: Only a 'moron' would buy YouTube

HDNet co-founder says video sharing outfit will eventually be "sued into oblivion" over copyright violations, points at limited advertising reach of YouTube.


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Billionaire investor and dot.com veteran Mark Cuban had harsh words for YouTube, the online site that lets people share video clips, saying only a "moron" would purchase the wildly popular start-up.

Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, also said Thursday that YouTube would eventually be "sued into oblivion" because of copyright violations.

"They are just breaking the law," Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. "The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue."

YouTube, based in San Mateo, Calif., specializes in serving up short videos created by everyday people. Its popularity, with more than 100 million video showings daily, has spurred speculation the firm will be sold or taken public.

But YouTube has also come under scrutiny because users often post copyrighted material, including music videos produced by well-established artists.

[Snip ...]

In other remarks, meanwhile, the often-controversial Cuban also told advertisers that the reach of YouTube is limited, particularly when it comes to user-generated videos.

"User-generated content is not going away," he said. "But do you want your advertising dollars spent on a video of Aunt Jenny watching her niece tap dance?"

"Somebody puts up something really good and you get, what, 60,000 viewers?" Cuban added during the event at Advertising Week in New York.

YouTube now offers advertising through banner ads, promotions and sponsorships. It has said it plans to roll out a range of different advertising options over the coming year.

Cuban cautioned advertisers against investing heavily in so-called viral campaigns that are spread by users beyond their initial point of distribution on YouTube or other video sharing sites. But he touted opportunities to run commercials on high-definition television such as his HDNet network.

"What makes viral so special is it's so hard to do. It's so hard to plan. It's hard to stand out," he said, describing 99 percent of money advertisers spend on viral campaigns as "wasted."

Tags: YouTube, Mark Cuban, Creative Commons, Larry Lessig, intellectual property, DRM

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Via the Globe and Mail Technology section ...

It's a reasonably safe prediction to make that we will eventually see more and more such partnerships between emerging channels of content delivered over the Web and social media platforms like Yahoo.  And it's also very likely that much of the content will be made available for re-mixing and re-purposing via mash-ups ... which will in turn sharpen the issues over control of copyright and intellectual property.  That of course is likely to lead to the ongoing evolution of instruments like Creative Commons, and eventually to broad legislation that redefines the relationship between content and its' creator(s).

Gore's Current TV inks deal with Yahoo!
DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK — Al Gore's Current TV is going into partnership with Yahoo! Inc. to create four new broadband channels that debuted on Wednesday with a video made by Bono during U2's last concert tour.

Like the Current TV network that the former vice president created with Joel Hyatt, the new broadband channels will focus on disseminating video created by young viewers.

“We expect this will be the premier video on-line experience,” Gore told The Associated Press.

One of the four channels, Yahoo! Current Buzz, is being produced by Madeleine Smithberg, co-creator of “The Daily Show,” and will “showcase the best of what's buzzing the world and the Web,” the companies said.

The other channels will focus on action sports news, automotives and adventure travelling. The latter is where Bono's video — mostly about experiences with fellow band member The Edge — is being featured.

Yahoo! was attracted to Current because it shares the goal of giving young people a voice on the Web, said Dan Rosensweig, the company's chief operating officer.

The four channels are separate and distinct from Current's TV network, Gore said. But with Current only available now in 30 million of the nation's 110 million homes with televisions, the deal promises to greatly increase the visibility of its content.

Tags: Current TV, Yahoo, Creative Commons, copyright, intellectual property

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Via CNN.com Technology

CEO bloggers communicate to the masses
September 18, 2006



SANTA CLARA, California (AP) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. CEO Jonathan Schwartz recently became "un blogeur" when he started publishing his Weblog in French and nine other languages.

Schwartz, whose online journal attracts 50,000 viewers each month, says going international will generate new customers attract prospective employees in Europe, China and elsewhere. That puts the 40-year-old chief executive at the vanguard of a trend in corporate communications, one that tears down barriers between executives and consumers.

"The blog has become for me the single most effective vehicle to communicate to all of our constituencies -- developers, media, analysts and shareholders," Schwartz said in an interview in his Silicon Valley office. "When I go out and have dinner with a key analyst on Wall Street or a key investor from Europe and ask them if they've read my blog, they almost universally say yes."

CEOs of smaller companies have already seized on blogs, and big companies are increasingly joining in -- despite the potential for disastrous backfires. In its unfiltered form, blogging lets them bypass the public relations department, journalists and industry analysts and speak directly to the public.

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Many of you have e-mailed in and have been wondering why one day you woke up and all your Q-Ads (aka Adgenta) ads were gone from your Wordpress.com blogs.  The simple answer is that the folks at Wordpress.com removed them.  The reason why is also simple, when you start a WP.com blog you agree in the terms of service (TOS) that your blog is to be ad free.  Q-Ads (and other services) are advertising services, therefore go against the TOS.  We had a long grace period (a year, actually) with them, and I thank Matt and Toni for this, but the problem became one of some people abusing the blind eye they were turning and they were fielding a lot of support inquiries about it.

The folks at WP.com didn't really have a choice.  The ads (and Q-Ads aren't not the only ones affected) were going against why they started WP.com and causing them headaches for them.  I contacted Matt and Toni personally about this and they got right back to me and explained their decision and reasoning.  Is the door completely closed?  No.  Here at Qumana we like WP a lot and use it for several other blogs.  We have an open channel and discussion with them about ads on WP.com blogs.

If you have any more questions feel free to contact us.

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