(no subject)

[logomancer]

Today I found this blog entry by cellist Zoë Keating about an ultimatum she received from YouTube. More details there, but she has two options: agree to be part of their Music Key program, which restricts her in a variety of unpleasant ways, or face blocking of her account, and presumably all of the videos with her music in it.

And it's at this point that YouTube has more or less lost my respect. Then again, they weren't really looking for it. Their model is the same model as most data silos -- get everyone in a room, make it hard to leave, then start turning the screws. Keating can leave YouTube, but then she loses a lot of exposure, and thus money. Were it me, I'd tell the shitheads at Mountain View to piss off, but Keating's husband has cancer, and cancer is very hard on the wallet (among other things).

One thing is clear, regardless -- YouTube has started to be more of a liability than an asset. Which means people should start looking for alternatives.