Hi Andy-- thanks for stopping by. I’m a big fan of waxy.org.
Jeff, where did you get the “90% of YouTube is copyrighted” estimate?
You’re absolutely right, I have no data to back up my 90% claim-- it’s more hyperbole than anything else. So let’s dig into a little data and see how far I am off.
If we look at YouTube’s Most Viewed, All Time:
http://www.youtube.com/browse?s=mpt=ac=0l=
That’s 20 videos. I count…
12 – copyrighted commercial content from authorized sources
3 – copyrighted commercial content from unauthorized users
3 – completely non-commercial user generated content (free hugs, guitar, hahaha)
The other 2 I can’t make heads or tails of, as they’re foreign-- but they don’t look like typical user generated content to me.
Is it unfair to characterize YouTube as 90% copyrighted content submitted by unauthorized users? Probably. I didn’t realize how many companies are leveraging YouTube to promote their commercial content. But I think it’s just as unfair to characterize YouTube as a giant repository of user generated content.