A couple of days ago I received an enticing offer from YouTube/Google to monetize my YouTube Channels. I have quite a few some of which my anonymous one's have huge followings so I looked carefully at the offer.
Well it seems after everything is taken into consideration with copyright the only YouTube's that fit the category are pictures of my cat as above and as this is not a picture of my cat I am not sure that even that would qualify. He was out in the street and I did ask his permission but his owner may not see it that way!
The web is not about monetizing! It is about sharing but slowly the web is being taken over by corporations that see money in everything. The corporations own the past copyrights and intend to use them. I have no problem with this but they are using these long held and extended copyrights to stifle innovation.
Steve Jobs and Apple are a good example. All the wonderful Apple machines are based on technical information that was if not in the public domain was owned by someone else. Jobs just made a better job of it! Sorry about the pun
Crick Watson and Wilkens would not have discovered DNA as soon as they did if they had had to rely on their own research work as they borrowed and this is putting it politely, from the real discoverer Rosalind Franklin. It was not even in the public domain. Was it wrong to do this? Perhaps but DNA got discovered earlier because of this breach of copyright and regretfully I think DNA was to important to be let go.
However the copyright laws, drawn up to safeguard Walt Disney are now on the face of it very strong. The big corporations can sue and they have the money to do so and one day they will haul a little fish like me to court and ruin me.
I now make sure that I own every item in my YouTubes as I can do all of it myself but I do not think there are many others who could do this. In fact I cannot think of anyone. Over the years I have had to amass a load of seemingly useless skills like ballet and singing and how to light a theatre production and now I can call on all of them but how many can do this?
Actually my offer was withdrawn as it seems someone has decided that my totally original videos do not comply.... they do but I do not wish to have horrible advertisements beside them so I shall not be wasting my time by contesting.
Monetizing one's videos at the moment is a myth. It makes the corporations feel good but it is a myth. I am too old now to do anything about this and perhaps the web can take a breather and work out how to pay artists but stifling innovation and creation is not one of them.
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