As Hulu adds Disney to its video fold, some seem to be calling this a loss for YouTube. But YouTube and Hulu are very different video sites and hopefully will continue to evolve so as to co-exist peacefully for the benefit of all web video kind.

YouTube is the video site for the masses. Anyone can upload anything for any reason. It makes the site excellent for finding something, whatever that may be. And that makes it an excellent service for many people, from content creators trying to get noticed to guys filming their dog do funny things.  Hulu is the standard for premium, professional content from the legendary gatekeepers of entertainment.  Even as the two imitate each other, there is more than enough space on the World Wide Web for both.

Yes, YouTube is adding premium content and using much of Hulu’s interface. That’s good for everyone – Hulu has a great interface. But Hulu will never add the breadth and freedom of YouTube. Similarly, much of Hulu’s content providers refuse to give up the control a closed system provides (including, still bizarrely, blocking out most of the world from viewing the page).  Much of the apparent concern for YouTube comes from the higher ad rates Hulu gets for its premium content, but of course, this puts mistaken value on the content itself rather than the experience and the community.

Hulu is an excellent experience, when they aren’t blocking access, but it lacks the community that makes YouTube thrive.  While Google has yet to figure out how to monetize the community, there are still millions of loyal video makers and watchers devoting hours of their time to the making the site more enjoyable and valuable.  Already we’ve seen unique ways YouTube can be a tool for increasing wealth and marketing, from the recent Susan Boyle excitement (which increased sales of Les Miserable CDs) to the amazing Wario Land: Shake It video game ad (you must click the link to experience it fully). Plus, YouTube videos now allow links, allowing for some interesting new opportunities.

Obviously, I like YouTube, and I have some problems with Hulu. Basically, web video, like most aspects of the web, is not a zero-sum game. Just because Hulu gets something does not mean YouTube loses. YouTube finds its own market and its own success because of Hulu, not in spite of, and vice versa.  That’s called competition. And it’s a good thing.

Now the second of Geek Musical Week on Prodigeek, I continue my interview with Buffy creator Joss Whedon about his upcoming internet, musical, superhero series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, appearing next week beginning on July 15th on their official site. Read Part 1 of our Joss Whedon interview here.

Prodigeek - How did you kind of come to this idea of an internet musical about a superhero?

Whedon - I had come up with the concept and the title originally as an audio podcast. I wanted to write a song. I was tired of not writing songs and I wanted a structure to write from. And I though this guy would have a blog and sing about what’s going on with him. It would be a fun thing to do. Then, during the strike, when everyone was looking to create internet content, I thought of it as a limited series. Then when I decided to do it myself, I thought of it as an even more limited series. It played itself out pretty simply. I brought writers in; we knew from the start exactly what we wanted to do. I had written the songs for it a while ago. The first song was called “My Freeze Ray.” I played that for the other writers. We got sort of an idea of sound, and then we started breaking a story. We broke it into three acts, a mini-series event, and then hopefully to make it a downloadable commodity. In addition to creating something out of love of musicals and love of the fans, I also wanted to create something where we could make money doing our own thing, outside the system. I also want to, in a perfect dream world, pay my crew.

(more…)

To kick off Geek Musical Week, Prodigeek speaks to Joss Whedon about his upcoming internet, musical, superhero series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog coming to a website near you next week. The creator of Buffy and the Buffy musical episode, “Once More, With Feeling,” Whedon already has a classic Geek Musical under his belt as he tackles the world of new media and internet distribution, something you surely need superpowers to tame.  Check out part 2 of our Whedon interview here.

Prodigeek - Tell me about Dr. Horrible.

Joss Whedon - Well, I can tell you it’s the story of Dr. Horrible, a low-rent super villain trying to make his way in the world, being evil, defeat his nemesis, Captain Hammer, who beats him up on a weekly basis, and work up the courage to talk to the prettiest girl walking around. It basically follows his travails. It’s about 40 minutes, in three acts, and was designed to be just your typical internet, superhero musical.

Prodigeek - What defines the typical internet, superhero musical?

Whedon - I don’t know, I’ve never seen one. It’s supposed to define the typical superhero musical, by being the first one. We’re getting it out before Spider-Man on Broadway. By the way, they are doing Spider-Man on Broadway, you know that, right?

(more…)

As Gizmodo reveals, there’s this unique new band (can we really call them that?) called iBand with a creative new YouTube video featuring the original sounds of two iPhones and a Nintendo DS with Electroplankton.  I only fear when Philip Glass creates a 150-person iPhone orchestra.  The future is now people.

We’ve all had our parents, siblings, friends, or life partner walk in on us getting a little too into our fantasies.  Okay, get your mind out of the gutter.  I mean, literally, our sci-fi and magical fantasies where we not only wish we were Luke Skywalker or Spider-Man, but we act out the part in front of the mirror.  In 2002, Ghyslain Raza made the mistake of video taping himself acting out lightsaber duels from Star Wars.  He shared the video with his friends who released the video on Kazaa leading to a viral video sensation.  An estimated 900 million people have watched the dubbed Star Wars Kid living his fantasy.

Everyone seems to love the video except Raza whose family filed a lawsuit against the families of his friends who released the video for causing Raza "harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large."  Three of the families settled the case out of court with the fourth family having the case dropped.

The Star Wars Kid’s embarrassment ignores the surprising cultural influence his video has evolved into.  Several TV shows and music videos have spoofed the original, from Arrested Development to the Colbert Report to "Weird Al" Yankovic.  A viral video influencing mainstream media.  That’s unheard of!

Your favorite mountain town will be coming to your local website soon. MTV Networks will release every South Park clip ever on SouthParkStudios.com.

Following their successful model with Daily Show clips, MTV and Comedy Central aim to attract online video viewers to their own sites, rather than user-run sites like YouTube.

This is exciting news from a company originally slow in using the web for distribution. MTV and Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom is suing YouTube for $1 billion for copyright infringement for showing Viacom shows on the site. This move by Viacom shows the company is at least trying to provide an alternative to get their content, experimenting with new distribution methods rather than just forcing people to watch TV at specific times.

Though one thing concerns me, specifically the idea of MTV showing all South Park clips, not episodes. Does this mean every South Park episode will be broken up into short, digestible clips? If so, this is not ideal. The Daily Show benefits from being broken up as clips for the purpose of searching and sharing specific segments. South Park, however, is a full story and benefits from having the full context. Hopefully MTV will feature the full episodes, maybe in addition to clips. Though please do not include a commercial between every clip. I might have time to watch a full episode on your site, but I don’t need to sit through five 15 second commercials for Ford cars.

Either way, this is a nice step forward for big media conglomerates. Now if Viacom can just drop their stupid lawsuit, we’ll be all set.