Professionals Elbowing Amateurs Off YouTube?

There was no YouTube when poet Robert Frost penned the deathless line, "Nothing gold can stay." But if he were alive today he would certainly feel his image aptly described the possible fate of YouTube as professionals get set to move in on it. The very zeitgeist of the 21st century represented by the ingenuity, the spontaneous combustiveness, the wacky hilarity, the instant, viral, visceral responsiveness of a public that knew what it loved and voted for it with billions of mouseclicks, may now be giving way to the slick creations of Hollywood television and film companies backed by studio and network money, branded sponsors, and calculating marketers. Here's a quote from Brian Stelter's reportage in the New York Times:

YouTube and the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent agency, are close to signing a deal that would place the company’s clients in made-for-the-Web productions.

The deal would underscore the ways that distribution models are evolving on the Internet. Already, some actors and other celebrities are creating their own content for the Web, bypassing the often arduous process of developing a program for a television network. The YouTube deal would give William Morris clients an ownership stake in the videos they create for the Web site.

From the beginning Google recognized the commercial potential of YouTube when it acquired the emerging phenomenon, paying a then eye-popping $1.65 for it (a price that in restrospect seems like a steal). But despite 100 million visitors a month, monetizing YouTube's content and making Google's investment back has not proven to be a slam-dunk thanks to the complexities and potential liabilities of copyright. Now that it looks as if the William Morris Agency is taking charge of the packaging and selling, you can be sure that copyright clearances will be diligently handled, production values will soar, lots of money will be made, and something precious will be spoiled.

Fred Davis, a senior partner at an entertainment law firm, is quoted by Stelter as commenting that “Although everyone realizes that the monetization of this content is not quite there yet, everyone also realizes the huge potential as the digital media business matures.”

Well, Hollywood, there are millions of us who don't want YouTube to mature. We like it just the way it is -- embarrassingly sophomoric, amateurish, LOL hilarious, pathetic, dopey, dirty, funky, and utterly counterculture. It belongs to We the People. Can't you go co-opt some other industry? We can think of a lot of them that could use your genius, your money and your values.

Nothing gold can stay, but as for the innocent fun of a freshly posted video produced by an inspired amateur, we can quote another poet on that score, Robert Graves: Good-bye to All That.

- Richard Curtis