If you’re a video content creator, chances are you post videos on YouTube.  And why not?  YouTube is as the largest online video community.  Because of it’s size, being on YouTube gives you the highest chance of visibility.  If you acquire a large enough of an audience you have a chance of being partner on YouTube.  Being a YouTube partner gives you an opportunity to make real money.  Something that is appealing to any starving artist.

On YouTube, Google has the reins.  Unlike their Blogger service, Google Ad-sense is the only game in town.  It’s Google’s way or the highway.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows when you drink the Google cool aide.  As much as Google usually tries to adhere to the “Do no evil” mantra, they are undoubtedly a large corporation.  In a lot ways large corporations don’t have the same kind of freedoms that small start-up companies do.  Also, shit gets lost and mismanaged.  It happened to Jordan Keyes of thisweekinlinux.com.  Without any fault of his own, Jordan’s Ad-sense account was suspended.  Thus bringing his “This Week in Linux” YouTube channel to a financial grinding halt.  Just like that, his once profitable video series was stripped of the ability to make Jordan any money.

Google has done a very smart and profitable yet evil thing.  They have effectively tricked a lot of us into putting all our eggs in one basket.  It’s Google’s way or the Highway.  Sure you could put your videos up on another site.  Blip.tv does an amazing job of giving you the tools to make you own community.  But it’s hard to build a community as big and profitable as the one that YouTube gives you.  Not impossible mind you, just Google has done a lot of the work for you.  That’s why they hold all the cards.

Now for a solution.  Shit.  I don’t have one.  If I knew how to compete with Google at their own game I wouldn’t have to look for a job.  Damn, I need a job…  So hungry…