Mark Cuban Rocks
You have to love Mark Cuban, who says it like it is. At a conference yesterday, he said only a “moron” would buy YouTube. “They are just breaking the law,” CNet reported. “The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue.” Cuban's no-lawsuit theory may be right but isn't a little curious YouTube has escaped the wrath of copyright owners so far while Napster, et al incited a wave of lawsuits and attacks on consumers? Here's my theory at when it comes to television programs being downloaded. While people are accessing them for free, there is still advertising on them. Maybe this gives copyright owners the luxury of figuring out whether they can work with video-sharing services such as YouTube rather than suing them.
Update: Something I didn't know until today is YouTube a 100MB upload limit, which means only 10 minute video clips can be shown - perfect for segments from the Daily Show and Bill Clinton interviews on Fox; not good for The Sopranos or House episodes. Maybe this is why the TV and movie industries haven't given YouTube a difficult time legally because 10-minute clips are more marketing vehicles than threats. For more thoughts, check out Don Dodge, a former v.p. with Napster, who takes issue with many of Cuban's ideas about YouTube. The New York Times also weighs in with a story on YouTube.
September 29th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
You are absolutely right. While many people wave the flag of intellectual property rights to appear righteous, the secret is that they want their cut of the money. If you are making money (be it advertising or whatever), very few people actually care how their content is used. When there is money to be made, everyone wins.
I believe the net is going in the direction that we will be able to get anything, but always at a price. Share an idea, make a buck.
September 29th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
He has a good argument about the murky legal waters YouTube treads in but perhaps Mark Cuban is negative on the company because he is now, in effect, a major media mogul himself. He's a significant shareholder in Lions Gate Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment [which financed "Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room", the George Clooney directed "Good Night and Good Luck" and many other films] and a significant portion of his wealth is directed toward these kinds of content creation industries as well as distribution companies [HDNet]… so as he morphs from “Maverick” to “Mainstream” of course he'd say that about YouTube.
September 30th, 2006 at 5:03 am
Hi, Mark. Been away for a while launching the new sites…but you know where I stand on this issue. YT is a non-starter in its current form. They need a busines model that doesn't put the entire enterprise at risk, which is exactly what they have now.
I've often wondered why YT doesn't create a B2B revenue stream by charging businesses anywhere from $9.99 to $99.99/month to host their videos. For example, I was at a recent conference for publicly traded small-cap resource companies. I'd love to take quick video clip interviews of CEO's on the floor and make them available to investors around the world as a way to promote my brand - and would gladly pay $50/month to have YT host and serve them. Perhaps, as a paying customer, I get my own customized corner within YT that I can use to promote my brand.
I suspect there would be thousands of companies that would do the same. YT generates a steady revenue stream at a substantially lower cost b/c you can bet my interview with Don Bubar of Avalon Ventures isn't going to be streamed anywhere near the latest clip from the Daily Show.
YT has the technology, the platform and the brand. Now they just need to build a real business model around it that doesn't depend on “borrowing” other people's content.
Until then, Mark Cuban is right.
Best,
George
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:37 pm
if you think mark cuban rocks, then check out http://www.MarkCubanRocks.com