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Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

blender.org

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Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#11
post #8

So this seems to have happened because Youtube wants The Blender Foundation to agree to have their videos monetized. I'm not clear if they want that because of bogus copyright claims, EU legislation etc, or just because they favour making money over not making money? Edit: Either way looking for alternatives seems like a good idea.

I made a video about this in January, before YouTube strongarmed Blender. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ksbTTXHw8

I am pretty dismayed to be this right. I didn't think YT would be nearly this aggressive in service of the ideas I outlined.

Basically, they take a cut off that activity. In some cases they could take most of or all the money, which is a clear win for them, but even when they pay out they're earning revenue on the transaction. It's been their core business model, so the problems with advocating an adfree behavior become obvious.

I would add that this becomes more urgent if they're in crisis. Makes me wish I could get the master copies I'd uploaded back, but there's no chance of that.

Bottom line: shots fired. You must work with YouTube the way they want you to work with YouTube, or you'll get punished.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#12
post #2

Why has YouTube blocked their videos worldwide?

Looks like it's connected to the fact that they had the "Allow advertisements to be displayed alongside my videos" setting turned off. https://www.blender.org/media-exposure/youtube-blocks-blende...

Is such a requirement in YouTube's terms of usage?

If yes, YouTube should have notified the affected channels first and ask them to change their settings or leave.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#13
post #8

So this seems to have happened because Youtube wants The Blender Foundation to agree to have their videos monetized. I'm not clear if they want that because of bogus copyright claims, EU legislation etc, or just because they favour making money over not making money? Edit: Either way looking for alternatives seems like a good idea.

I made a video about this in January, before YouTube strongarmed Blender. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ksbTTXHw8 I am pretty dismayed to be this right. I didn't think YT would be nearly this aggressive in service of the ideas I outlined. Basically, they take a cut off that activity. In some cases they could take most of or all the money, which is a clear win for them, but even when they pay out they're earning r…

Well, they picked the wrong org to gamble on strongarming in the case of Blender. Instead of getting them to monetize they've just compelled Blender to move platforms.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#14
post #3

I can't believe this has been going on for three days. YouTube seems like it is actively sabotaging its independent content creator's channels. But in this case it's not just some random kid living with their parent's. MIT and Blender are both respectable orgs.

I'm pretty annoyed, I was planning on using a bunch of MITOCW video series to level up some on some computer science and information theory this summer and I hadn't even gotten through the first lecture of the first series on my list (6.001 with Sussman from 1986, classic and awesome) when this stopped me in my tracks.

I've been waiting patiently hoping it comes back, but at this point I feel like I'm going to have to use archive.org or download directly from them.

I was slowly warming up to the idea of paying for Red for commercial-less music and maybe checking out some other paid content, but this has been a bucket of cold water on that notion.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#15
It makes sense that YouTube would do this. I've been expecting YouTube to go after channels that are primarily supported by Patreon donations with full teeth and claws for awhile now, and still expect it is coming. Channels not running ads reduced YouTube to a free video hosting service and cuts them out of the revenue loop completely. Their main goal, as I see it, is to transition into a centralized and much more controlled content platform run much more like a traditional TV network used to be. This will enable them to achieve Eric Schmidt's stated goal of taking the reins of human culture to protect the poor from themselves (which he states, though not in those words, in his book 'The New Digital Age'). They also think it makes them more attractive to advertisers (although there is abundant proof now that no 'adpocalypse' ever occurred and YouTube has only grown as an advertising platform... they see this as 'in spite of' niche content being present, not 'because of').

So if there are large channels that have milquetoast content that is non-controversial (for now, it won't take long before all educational content beyond elementary school level is de facto controversial) but aren't monetized, that really leaves YouTube out in the cold. Paying the hosting costs AND they don't have any increased leverage to regulate those channels contents? Worst case scenario as far as they're concerned... but they also don't want that content hopping to a different platform. Google didn't run YouTube at a staggering loss for a decade for nothing, they did it to suppress competition in the video space and guarantee no one could afford to compete with them unless they also had a search engine advertising business that could prop up the titanic losses.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#18
post #2

Why has YouTube blocked their videos worldwide?

It was in another trending post https://torrentfreak.com/youtubes-piracy-filter-blocks-mit-c... Basically, overzealous automatic piracy filters

It was allegedly an overzealous automatic filter. As of late, Youtube has been behaving very aggressively towards any content creators who were, in YT's eyes, earning YT less-than-optimal money. Even if it is just an automatic filter in so many cases, their apparent complete apathy regarding the issue is very telling...

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#19

I'm curious what YouTube's real numbers are for YouTube profitability. Are these channels at such high subscriber rates that they're cutting into YouTube's ability to sustain themselves? They recently demonetized all of the Salad Fingers videos, causing David Firth to remove all those videos from YouTube and only allowing them to Patreon subscribers via Vimeo. I hope this pushes towards more independent, distributed…

I think that the single search box with consistent UX is the killer feature. Subscription is too, in another way. Alternatives need to address these; I believe federated video services / toobs are the only way to aim for the first. Subscriptions should be replaced with RSS.

Re: Blender is testing PeerTube after YouTube blocks their videos worldwide

#20

And the next thing would be... let's think... block all gmail accounts for people who use adblock?

Actually, that's an interesting thought. I have a Gmail account I don't use much, but I almost never access it from the web. I only use it with a mail client. I never see any of the ads they would show if I accessed it through the web. I do wonder now if they'll cut it off. I've been trying to move away from using them at all anyway, so no loss if they do, but certainly an interesting idea.
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