In Fall 2017 I received an email from the YouTube staff, in which the company explained that from now on Content Creators on youtube will need a set of amount of views (1000 views), to be noticed as a Partner and earn money with the company and through ad revenues.
I for my part have had a channel for almost 8 years now, but only recently got active after all the youtube hype.
For my apology, I don't have the intention of standing in front of the camera and creating content that has either been already topic for the last few months, or just being a one hit wonder with a following trend that hits it's climax and then stays below expectation. No, I don't want to diss anyone either as I am also aware that those people of mentioned all do hard work! It just doesn't apply to me. I for my part have the opinion that you as a Content Creator don't need to be seen on camera, just like in tutorials or baking videos, you mostly hear the voices.
I am creating music for people around the globe, who don't have the money to pay for it or don't have the time to create their own music. And while YouTube served me as a platform to fulfill my "dream", I activated the monetization feature a Content Creator has, because I do want to get payed for the views and the clicks, but not by the end user.
I mean, it's a win-win situation, for YouTube, because they are getting the views they want, and I get a slice of the cake from the company and not the users who are interested in the content i post or who want to download the music so bad.
As I mentioned before, I have just started recently to taking things serious and actually earned a few cents with only 60 subscribers.
But this morning I received another email from Youtube, stating that they are changing their requirements, AGAIN!
The changes are immense: Content Creators have to have at least 1000 subscribers to be required as a Content Creator, and you need at least 4000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months.
If you don't meet up to these requirements, "as a result, your channel will lose access to all monetization tools and features associated with the YouTube Partner Program on February 20, 2018, unless you surpass the threshold in the next 30 days."
WHAT????!!
What does this mean to me as a so called partner?
Wow... Sorry for those trying to get on the boat when it's already cruising. All the YouTubers who have been creating content beforehand having enough subscribers and views won't even think about it anymore, because they are already meeting the requirements. But for people like me and you this is the worst thing ever to happen.
1. Loss of motivation, loss in quality
I for my part, and I can't speak on the behalf of other YouTubers, will be losing my motivation. All the hard work, the time creating instrumentals and beats up to a point where I thought it will be all good and fun will get paid eventually.
In this case I will be losing motivation and be thinking of what are the reasons to be keep going? Those hours my MacBook (model late 2010) rendered for 3 hours in FinalCutProX for crappy moving backgrounds I created to the music, telling myself it's worth it.
There will be a loss of quality in content because Content Creators will only be thinking of the 4000 hours of videos that need to be uploaded, leading more people to just creating any kind of videos. I mean, it will be seen as the first hurdle to overcome to get things starting. The first hurdle that can "easily be jumped over".
2. Looking for alternatives
Up until now I haven't been looking for alternatives and maybe there are some people who also haven't but are considering to. There are platforms like Vimeo, Dailymotion and Veoh to mention a few some of you might have already heard of. They are rising popularity in the following order and they also give Content Creators the ability to earn some money, when I remember Casey Neistat's commentary correctly.
3. Prognosis through interpretation
To be clear, this is only my interpretation of what will be the following up consequences for YouTube.
While I wish all Content Creators luck on YouTube, I get the feeling that YouTube's step to this decision will lead to major fallbacks as a company. It might sound naive to call a company with the pole position at this moment obsolete, but that is what I think YouTube eventually will become. Why do i say so?
Because there are plenty of former Content Creators who have leaved YouTube for other Platforms like Twitch or the platforms I have mentioned before. And I don't mean obsolete like it will finally see it's own demise and lose users. I mean obsolete in terms of, losing net value and not being the most important application to man kind up until now anymore, but alternatives serving users better than YouTube will.
4. Any last thoughts?
Yes, I am aware that this post is merely a subjective based topic. But i do hope to reach a lot of people who may or may not consider this post contemporary and as important as I do. I will take all commentary and criticism in consideration and will not judge based on being non-objective. Therefore I do wish that people commenting their opinions on this post will also use a bit of discretion and add value to what they are saying, by justifying their claims!
People say the last comes best, and it really does. I want to introduce DTube to you guys! I haven't mentioned it before, but this platform clearly is an alternative to YouTube with better chances of reaching people and getting payed for your quality content. DTube is blockchain based and linked to your Steemit account. There are various posts on how to start creating content on DTube, just search for the topic DTube on Steemit.
Unfortunately for me, I have issues with my ipfs installation and haven't set it up correctly, which you need as a Content Creator to upload videos to DTube. If you are just a viewer, you can watch the videos without any problems though.
What's so good about DTube is, that quality content gets payed by the views, just like videos on YouTube does. But other than that, you have a more valuable earning in shares as if you would have, when you would contribute 55% unwillingly to YouTube for the content YOU have created. Speaking of quality content, I really mean quality content.
My last thoughts on this?
People will not apply to what YouTube is doing at this moment! Let me take you to the real world and say, apply the same circumstances to a real life situation.
Would you be willing to apply for a job and work there for days without being payed?
Creating videos is a lot of work, the hours you put in, using effects, cutting pre- and post production, before you even upload a video. And then you need to get it uploaded and pay Youtube 55% of the content YOU have created, just because you are using their platform. Does this look fair?
Next time I'm applying for a job, I'll tell my boss to only pay me 55% of the work, only because I am using the working space needed to get work done, by me.
Thanks guys, have you have read through. Sorry for the long text and all - I just can't wrap my head around this topic.
It is so frustrating, and you will definitely be hearing and seeing videos from Content Creators who will support this uproar, just like it was a topic of the present topic "If YouTube is broken", which is still a object of discussion at this point and time.
