Hey guys! I apologize for not posting in a little while, I've been super busy with midterms and projects and such. But today I discovered something concerning that I just HAD to discuss with all of you.
This afternoon, YouTube announced on their official blog the launch of YouTube Red, which is set to be let loose in the U.S. on October 28 before making its way to other countries. Basically this new version asks viewers to pay $9.99/month for a membership. ($12.99 If you're an apple user-thanks "iTunes Tax"
) This membership then gives you the ability to watch videos ad-free, gives you an exclusive subscription to Google Play Music as well as the up-and-coming YouTube Music app and a bunch of other really interesting perks.
This all sounds like an avid YT'ers dream-who doesn't jump up when they hear the word "exclusive"?-but there is one
tiiiiiiiiiny detail YouTube oddly left out of their post. Basically, on the same day YouTube Red is made official, uploaders will be asked just like anyone else if they would like to sign up for the free one month trial. The only difference is, if creators decide not to join, all videos that they've posted will be made private.
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Anyone who is on this site probably knows that with videos comes views, and with views comes two things: money and subscribers. If you take out the videos, you lose new subscribers; take out new subscribers and now you've lost views and....well you see where I'm going with this. For big-name YouTubers, this may or may not be all that big of a deal, as quite a few of them have already signed on with Red to begin work on some very Netflix-ey original shows that will become a part of the exclusive membership package. Some of these uploaders include iiSuperwomanii, The Fine Brothers, Pewdiepie and Joey Graceffa just to name a few. But for us little guys who may not be able to afford $9.99/month, this news could actually cut our YT careers very, very short.
I finally worked up the nerve to start my channel for real two months ago after spending years dreaming of joining the likes of Dan and Phil and Jenna Marbles. And after seven weeks of videos, I've begun to feel really confident in my content. My subscribers count isn't all that high, but my comments are positive and the videos are enjoyable for me to make and edit. So when I caught wind of this "join us or say goodbye to your public videos" ultimatum....well, I'm not ashamed to say I kind of snapped and cried everywhere.
Now, I don't know if I'm being ridiculous or not, but if you feel the same way I do, please let me know. And if you don't, also let me know and let's chat about this. Because as a community of newbs and novices, I think YouTube Red is possibly more of a hot topic for us than anybody else.
Anyways, I hope you guys are having a great week and night so far, I love you all!
Emily
