Lulu TV says it’ll help video creators make money, but I’m definitely unclear on the site’s concept. Peter Wayner, in the New York Times, says:
The Web site, which lets people upload and watch video clips, said last week that it would begin charging a $14.95 monthly fee for a “pro” account and putting 80 percent of that money into a special fund. Each month the money will be distributed among the video creators, with the biggest share going to the person who attracted the most viewers.
I still don’t get it.
on Jul 3rd, 2006 at 4:29 am
Well, I got slammed (not by you) for my last comment, so maybe I shouldn’t do this … but I never seem to learn …
I get it. It’s easy. Think of the quasi-scam, where there’s a “contest”, entrants pay a fee, the winner gets a prize. The organizers profit from the fees minus the cost of the prize.
With the power-law of popularity, here there’s going to be a few big winners who collect some prize money, and a *lot* of hopeful fee-payers who are dreaming of being a prizewinner. Which will of course be hailed as democratic community citizen participation. The People Formerly Known As The Audience, now known as The Suckers.
Heck, in realpolitik terms, it’s a decent business model, it doesn’t rely on advertising. It’s a gambling/lottery type of business (with a little skill aspect so it’s not purely gambling/lottery, but I mean the system where everyone pays a fixed charge, a few big payouts are the incentive, and the house skims a percentage as the take).