The latest changes that began sweeping over youtube do not have an immediate effect on me as I have stated before that I do not collect any kind of payment from my videos on youtube, but rather the people that do collect payment. The people that create content for us to watch. The people that give us content to enjoy.
With Google's and youtube's new method for detecting copyrighted material, it sent out a massive amount of copyright notices from a slew of third parties. A majority of the people that were affected were the ones who had game-related channels which included let plays and music.
A majority of the reason I watch youtube channels is because of gaming related content. I enjoy watching reviews of upcoming games, watching some of my favorite personalities play through games and discuss them while the game related video and audio is on screen. I can credit some of my favorite channels with guiding me to making purchases and also providing me with hours upon hours of entertainment and useful information that I simply cannot get from any other source. The very best thing about youtube this generation was allowing these people to create content tailored to the interest of different people.
This is now all at risk with the new automated copyright system. Not only do footage of games and music catch the attention of the system, it means that these videos cannot exist, also meaning what these people can create will also be crippled, not through creativity, but through laws and copyright. It also means that these channels will not be able to receive payment through youtube,meaning the creators will no longer be able to make youtube videos as a full time job.
I realize there has been a lot said about the people no longer making money from youtube. You have some people believing that making videos and p[laying for fun shouldn't be a job, and suggest that these people get "a real job". You have another group of people who believe that the copyright laws of the US are now painfully outdated, and not able to accurately take into account the changing landscape of digital content, ownership and fair use.
As it stands right now, my favorite gaming related channel on youtube, Classic Game Room has left youtube behind over what was most likely a slew of copyright claims. Mark Bussler, the creator has moved onto his own website and will most likely continue to post future videos on dailymotion. Other channels like have also recently released statements saying that if this new rule sticks around, most of the channels will most likely either severely cut the amount of content they make or quit making new content entirely as their focus will have to shift to new jobs in order to survive.
As I said before, personally, this has no personal effect on me at all. I can still continue about my daily life and I can still watch videos without worrying about having a source of income coming in to support myself. However, I still can't help but feel sad by what has happened and by what will continue to happen to some of my favorite youtubers.
I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of copyright laws and fair use is not completely extensive, and that my legal understanding of the matter is not an expert opinion, but I will say that this comes across as sad, as a majority of the youtubers I religiously watched and even some that I only occasionally watched never seemed to be in it to milk dollars from their channels, nor did they ever seem to want to take more than what was given to them. They were just ordinary people that wanted to make videos, wanted to entertain people and sometimes even wanted to educate people. These were people who were doing no wrong to anyone and were just having fun.
I do agree to an extent that the laws that exist for fair use and copyright are dated, and do not accurately take into account the new way products and goods are shared and sold through a digital medium. The times have changed and it only seems appropriate that the laws do as well to reflect the times. With the way they exist now, the seem to only hold back and stifle the creativity and forward progress of technology.
I also suppose one could tell them to get a real job, as just sitting around playing games and making videos about it isn't exactly the most backbreaking of labor, but in this day and age with a constantly changing and dynamic job market, who is to say what is a real job and what is not? Does sitting at a desk punching numbers in a computer make it less of a job than heavy construction. Should I look down at the barista at Starbucks and admire the brain surgeon? It's silly to compare and contrast jobs. If you work hard, if you're good at what you do and you do it on a regular basis, its a job like everything else, and like all work that takes time and effort, deserves compensation.
Its clear that youtube is not going to ease up on their rules and its clear that the new rules and regulations are going to keep being added on through the next year. I don't know what this means for the future of some of my favorite channels and their respective entertainers, but I do know that is will severely affect just how much time I put into youtube. If some of my favorite youtube people jump ship and go somewhere else, what is the point of me staying on the site and using their service?
I know that this will make little difference, and I know that even with a massive amount of backlash and protest, youtube will not loose a single night of sleep over this because of the still massive amount of people who continue and will continue to use youtube in the future. However, this only proves the point of what happens when a cool little service gets swallowed up by a huge corporation. Money and bottom lines replace the community and ingenuity of what makes services like these so great to begin with, and if the people. the community, the very heart and soul are the ones to be punished, its no longer what it used to be.
If anything, these videos, these reviews were the best thing going for each of the publishers behind the titles. It gave indie games a platform to be heard and to be noticed allowing them to grow and capture the massive audience they have today. They offered unbiased looks at big name titles, letting the consumer have a no corporate look at whether that next big game that's been hyped up for months is really worth your hard earned cash.
Youtube is no longer the youtube I loved. Youtube is just that, a name, a shell of its former self and its sad to think that that its gone too far past the point of return and the possibility of it returning to its former self is pretty much non existent.
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