Saturday, November 30, 2013

Disadvantages of being a YouTube Partner

If you haven't read my previous blog, I briefly went over some of the things I found to be advantages when becoming a YouTube Partner. But, just like any other contract agreeing to, comes along disadvantages. In this post I will be going over the ones I feel are most important.

Restrictions on “original content”
YouTube partners have to own the copyright and distributions rights to all and every video and audio content they use, with no exception! They are however only allowed to use third-party content with the permission of that content provider, and that provider will obtain a share of the advertising revenue from the video posted. Any violation of these terms might result in instant termination from the partnership.
Become a YouTube Partner isn't accessible for everyone
As of this instant, YouTube partnerships are only offered to users who live in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,  Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. If you are a users outside of these countries, you still are allowed to apply for partnerships, but the chances of being accepted are considerably lower.
Rules of YouTube Partnerships
There are plenty of rules that need be followed in order to maintain a YouTube partnership and staying on good terms. These rules most often restrict many facets of what you can and cannot do in relations of your videos, optimization, and page design.
Some of these rules include:
-  You can NOT aim user attention to the advertisements on your page by using arrows and other directional tricks, or by saying things like “click this ad” or “support me by visiting these ads”
-  You can NOT put misleading pictures alongside the advertisements
-  You can NOT reward viewers for clicking ads or performing keyword searches for your own benefit
These are just some of the rules for YouTube partners. If you wish to read more about this topic, visit this link on keeping your page in good-standing with YouTube.

More exposure means a bigger probability of unwelcome visitors

Of course, with bigger visibility come the unavoidable cyber-bullies of the World Wide Web, better known as “Haters”. YouTube partners and YouTube users for that matter, are offered a range of privacy settings for their videos. You can make videos private, available only to those you accept as “friends”, or you can set them to public so that anyone could see them. In the occasion that you make your videos public, you can choose the option of filtering which comments are permitted on a case-by-case basis, or allow all comments to show on your video’s page.

In order to gain views and subscriptions, I think that setting your videos public and open to all comments is your best play. However, it is important that, you don’t allow the admirations go to your head, or the bullying go to your heart when it comes to the comments viewers post. You have to take them with an ounce of salt and just keep doing what you’re doing!


Hopefully this provided you with a greater explanation of the disadvantages that come along when becoming a YouTube Partner. Now what’s left for you to decide is whether you feel that joining YouTube partnerships is in fact what’s right for you. If you have any questions or concerns leave them down below and I would be more than glad to provide answers for them. :)

Sources : 
http://www.youtube.com/yt/partners/program-policies.html

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Advantages of being a YouTube Partner

What’s all the talk about YouTube Partnerships? Ever wonder why would someone want to dedicate hours, days and even weeks of their time sitting in front of a camera or over a computer editing videos to upload to YouTube? In this post, I’ll go over some of the top advantages of becoming an official YouTube Partner.

You can reach a worldwide audience 
YouTube is the leading online video community in the world, including the largest online video site, including a  range of consumer devices, from laptops, to mobile phones and to televisions. Partners enjoy additional promotion and inclusion in special advertising programs that run on YouTube, across the Internet and offline. Using Youtube helps them reach out to a worldwide audience rather than something just local.
You’re offered more customization options for your channel
For those of you who have just started making videos, you become immediately aware of the slight control you have over the appearance of your page and videos. For example, those who upload a video are only able to choose from 3 thumbnail images to represent it. These 3 snapshots are pulled by YouTube from your video, and are usually unattractive.
Partners of YouTube however, are able customize their channel pages with skins, different colours, logos and more. Plus, they can choose their own video snapshots to use as the thumbnail, or they can even use any picture from their photo library instead. Partner are granted with a much higher level of control over their video content compared to those who are non-partners.

You receive greater exposure on YouTube
Second to the money you receive from your videos comes the prominent exposure on YouTube. When a person becomes a partner, their videos are put at the very top of search lists. This increases their the amount of views, and the number of subscriptions they will receive on their channel. Both of these elements contribute to success as a YouTube Partner. I've noticed when I search a specific topic, such as anything beauty related, it's always the same people at the top of my page; the YouTube Partnered beauty gurus.

Proprietary Rights Over Your Uploaded Content 
If you upload a video and are not a partner, YouTube has the right to control, restrict and broadcast that video within the site. YouTube Partners on the other hand own the copyrights & distribution rights to ALL of their own uploaded videos with no exceptions. 

Traveling across the world
Youtube partners travel across the world to make collaborative videos with other YouTubers and to certainly attend Youtube related events. All of the travel expenses, are actually covered by Youtube. One of he top Youtube partners, Jack Harries, has managed to travel all over the world thanks to his success on the site. "He’s currently making “up to double” what he earned each month in his old retail job at Apple; enough to pay for new camera equipment, travel the world without touching his savings and fund his entire gap year." says Sarah Rainey, a journalist who managed to interview the Youtuber. 

Honestly guys there's nothing better than traveling the world especially for the fact that it's FREE! If I had the time, I would honestly start my own YouTube and work hard in hopes of getting to where all these famous YouTube partners are at. 

Here's a video Jack posted on to his Youtube a couple weeks ago.





You make money from advertising revenue sharing
As I briefly spoke about in my "Making money off Youtube" blog, the advertising revenue that is generated on a webpage is divided between YouTube, and the YouTube partner providing the video content. The CPM (cost per thousand viewers) is a flat rate of $20.00 per 1,000 views on a YouTube partners video
Unfortunately for those who are non-partners, they don't receive much pay at all. Existing YouTube Partners are actually required to sign a confidentiality agreement forbidding them from talking about their ad-generated revenue on YouTube. Because of this, it's difficult to know with certainty the exact earnings of these different users. 

Additional changes
If you become a partner, the “Related Videos” section will be replaced by the “More From” section. The “More From” section will have thumbnail links to only THEIR videos. I feel as though this makes such a huge difference with the amount of views a YouTuber receives, mainly because I find that once I'm done watching a video, I immediately go through the side bar showing multiple videos rather than thinking of something else to search up.


Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9544479/YouTube-videos-funded-our-gap-year-travels.html

Friday, November 8, 2013

Youtube Music Awards

Everyone loves music. From driving unknown artists to the top of the charts, to cheering on established artists as they reinvent the music video and to remixing songs, music fans have turned YouTube into the world’s go-to music destination. To celebrate music fans and the music we all love, YouTube has announced a new kind of awards show--one powered us, the viewers.





On Sunday, November 3 at Pier 36 in New York City, YouTube hosted the first ever YouTube Music Awards, a celebration of music honoring the artists and songs that YouTube fans have turned into global hits over the past year. Unlike traditional award shows, this event presented live performances by top artists, alongside some of YouTube’s biggest stars, including Arcade FireAviciiCDZAEarl SweatshirtEminemLady GagaLindsey StirlingM.I.A.Tyler, The Creator and Walk off the Earth.

Fans could vote in each category by posting a specific links from Youtube.com/YTMA on either their FacebookGoogle+ or Twitter. The video with the most posts in each category was annouced as the winner. Modern day music fans from across the globe spoke loud and clear, casting winning votes for artists in the following categories:

YOUTUBE MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS LIST
  • Breakthrough of the Year: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  • Response of the Year: Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix – Radioactive
  • Innovation of the Year: DeStorm – See Me Standing
  • YouTube Phenomenon: I Knew You Were Trouble
  • Video of the Year: Girls' Generation – I Got A Boy
  • Artist of the Year: Eminem

I feel as though that even its a first time award show and didn't get as much views as they hoped it would, as years pass, it will continue to grow and become as successful as any other award show. 

I love the fact that YouTube Music awards give unknown musicians a chance into the music industry and  have their name out across the globe. Other music shows however only recognize singers for their popularity and not their talent. I hope YouTube continues to have this award show every single year in honor of the not so popular but remarkable musicians.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_Music_Awards