VentureWeek #3 - Music Technology
http://www.ventureweek.com/2005/11/ventureweek-3-music-technology.html

Big companies and organisations are already taking advantage of the enthusiasm surrounding ‘citizen journalism’. Even public service organisations such as the BBC, which insists on a royalty-free perpetual licence for any images it is given. Why exactly? The BBC deals with licensing and royalties all the time — for actors and professional media — so what is the big problem with rewarding members of the public for images used? The answer is they don’t because they can get the content for free and people will agree to these outrageous terms.

I see many places where I can put my video content where it will get viewed for free and at least one where I can release it as Creative Commons with an ad on the end. But where are the pay-per-view video services that let me hold onto my copyright and get a small return?

The experience of Rocketboom (which I do like BTW), illustrates the amount of time that goes into making video content. I think we won’t see much quality video until there is a solid mechanism so the makers can earn something to cover the time they spend.

Someone was saying Google has lost the plot… Why has Google Video stalled? And, incidentally, search for ‘BBC’ on Google Video and see what you find. I found entire music performances from BBC Top of the Pops (Robbie Williams) bits of Top Gear, classic drama and comedy. All of which must surely have been uploaded illegally? I thought content was vetted?

What happens if the old media dies too soon? The urgent need for solid online news media business models
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/11/what_happens_if.php

I am a specialist in a particular field. I used to write for magazines and I used to teach too. But no way would the money I made just from teaching cover my living expenses. In effect, what you are saying is that I should work full-time for half the money?

Maybe a tiny number of people can command such a high fee that this model works for them. But I doubt it will for most people. There are already full-time journalists in the UK who earn £12,000 per year. That is about $20,000 and they do numerous hours of overtime unpaid. There is no time left to do anything else.

Examples:
ttp://eurotelcoblog.blogspot.com
http://mobhappy.typepad.com/russell_buckleys_mobhappy/
http://www.mobile-weblog.com
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook

This quote completely sums up the MSM’s detachment from reality. My whole world would collapse around me without coffee and wifi.

I wrote for magazines for 13 years. I would spend a day or two on a 1000 word article: researching, interviewing people and writing and then rewriting.

The idea that some unpaid member of the public could just pop into this cafe/newsroom for five minutes, look up some stuff on Google and then write an article of any quality and accuracy is ludicrous.

Very nice for the journalists who get ‘cut’. Are we all destined to become unpaid ‘citizen journalists’? Or ‘amateurs’ as they used to be known.

Sure there is a tiny number of good bloggers, who are effectively journalists and who, frankly, should be paid for what they do.

So much of this is sheer pie in the sky. And don’t get me started on video blogs and the myth that everyone will soon be making a daily magazine programme! Why isn’t that happening, ask Amanda and Andrew from Rocketboom. Yet Andrew admits it takes more than 8 hours to make a three minute daily show. Which pretty much ties in with professional TV experience.

Rocketboom - the best known video blog in the world. Featured on CBS and around the world. Running for a year and how much money does it make? Zero from what I’ve read.

We are led to believe that Rocketboom has minimal costs. However they don’t seem to include the cost of a person working 8 hours a day for a year with no income? Perhaps in the next interview they could ask Andrew how he has bought food and paid his bills for the last year?

Seems pretty unsustainable to me. Though I guess this could end up with them making some money selling the ‘brand’. A brand that has partly been built on the back of other people’s copyright content btw (see their use of the British Forces ‘Road To Armadillo’ spoof video with the whole of a number one hit record on the soundtrack. Hardly ‘fair use’!). But it’s OK because right now Rocketboom is not commercial.

Generally speaking, this is what most people are really doing - building a name to sell in the future, on the back of other people’s content. Google does it, FireAnt does it, Rocketboom is probably doing it…

So please no more surprise that more people aren’t coming up with wonderful TV on a daily basis! And don’t pretent that bloggers are ever going replace professional paid journalist unless they do get paid for their work.

And as Rick’s comment points out, how would you actually gather the news? We already have internet terminals. What would coffee machines and Wifi add, exactly?

I much prefer Jeff’s own ideas posted a couple of days back.

Our post from last night about the impending Blog War over Vancouver has generated a nice little debate. (Note to staff: graphics featuring nuclear bomb blasts are a winner.) Our friends over at Metroblogging have a good post recognizing…