YouTube isn’t just for home videos anymore.

Filmmakers can soon upload their movie to YouTube and rent out views of their content.  In the past, film distribution was limited to the studio system with theater viewing, then pay-per-view, then DVD sales.  More recently, a small film or documentary could be uploaded directly to the web and streamed, for pay.  Many  filmmakers stream their films from small websites, after the viewer enters credit card information. The hit movie, ‘The Secret’, began its meteoric rise as a streaming video on an obscure website.

The arrival of YouTube on the scene will dramatically change the pay-per-view model and open the door to an explosion of relatively unseen videos, all of whom can theoretically make money.

Content creators can make money two ways in YouTube: YouTube Partner Program and Individual Video Partnerships (IVP).  The 2 minute video ‘David after the Dentist’, viewed 58 million times, has been parlayed into low six figures profit for the family, thru use of YouTube ads and the sale of periphery products (t-shirts and stickers) purchased by fans.

Leveraging YouTube’s dominant market share will change the landscape for filmmakers.  In March, YouTube had 135 million viewers. YouTube receives a large bite of ad budgets that marketers use for social media campaigns.  A filmmaker who uploads their movie to YouTube can bypass the restrictive studio distribution model and actually make money for themselves.

YouTube is also working on a method to find and license music for videos.