Time Lapse Decoder Ring Video edited in YouTube

Warning: None of my comments below come by way of condemnation for the actions of any individual. If you feel personally attacked or need to defend your actions or attitudes, that’s not coming from me. Just sayin’.

This video was a little bit to bump up my video library, a little bit to use some footage I didn’t want to waste, and a little bit to test out YouTube’s built-in video editing capabilities. Yes, YouTube as a built in video editor that allows you to take videos you’ve uploaded and edit them together, add sound, and even insert pictures. It’s not robust, but it’s fairly easy to use. However I came away from the experience with more negatives than positives.

Pros:

  • Fairly easy to use
  • A large selection of CC videos and music resources that’s easy to browse and add

Cons:

  • No editing uploaded videos. Uploaded videos can be used in edited projects, and are whole new videos when they’re done. (No fixing a crappy upload after it’s out there)
  • After uploading, editing, and processing I probably didn’t save myself much actual time vs editing, processing, and then uploading
  • Banner text is very limited, only 2 lines at a time
  • Monitization isn’t on by default on edited videos
  • Uploading pictures are organized oddly and I can’t figure out how to edit the “albums” they’re uploaded into
  • Inserted pictures can’t be scaled or resized, only “pan and zoom”ed
  • They pretty much ignore the CC license on the resources they provide

That last one was pretty big in my mind. (Can you tell by the bold font?) They give you a bunch of CC resources, but then do not enforce the license or aid you in even attributing the creators of the works. No banner placed for you in the video, no text added to the description, no pop up that says “be sure to attribute the creator of this content, here’s the text you need to display somewhere…”, nothing. I was only able to add the correct information because I purposefully sought out a piece from their library by my favorite CC music composer, so I had the license information on hand from my other videos. The average user would not do that, and YouTube is helping them no do that.

I know I go off about CC licenses quite a bit, and most people don’t care about it, but I do. When a creator puts something out with the CC license on it, it’s not because they don’t care about what they’ve done, and it’s not because they don’t value it. Well, maybe that’s why, but that’s on the long tail end of reasons why someone would release something CC. More likely it’s one of the following reasons:

  • Philanthropic desire to share what they’ve created with others
  • Resignation that a mooching audience is better than no audience
  • Hope that a brand can be built without the vast resources required for a traditional PR push
It is amazing that we live in a world where someone who doesn’t have a lot of capital can use the labor of others to create something, without spending a penny, and add to the world, maybe even becomes successful down the road. 20 years ago that would not have been possible. But just because there’s no cash register or bouncer at the door doesn’t mean that there’s not a price tag supposed to be on there and a cost to be paid. The CC license, when applied to the work, outlines the cost of the use of that item. Ignoring that means you didn’t pay for something you’re using, and not paying for something that isn’t yours is the very definition of theft. Yes, it’s not “stolen”, but it’s still theft.
Now, like I said above, this doesn’t come by way of condemnation. Theft is a strong word, but I don’t blame people for doing it, really. This is certainly a unique case where theft is so easy and so casual it can be performed without willing consent of either party. No one is actively removing a price tag. But they are, inadvertently, saying that they created this thing, presenting it as their own, that was in fact a collaboration. Again, the ability to do this didn’t exist 20 years ago. It’s a new problem.
But if I were condemning anyone the blame would go to YouTube for taking a library of objects, ignoring the price tag, and telling others “here, use these”. That’s not right, YouTube. You’re the root of the problem. 
If YouTube fixes this, and I listed a few ways they could above, then this entire post will be pretty much nullified. I hope that happens.
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