Business News Digital Management & Funding

YouTube to add crowdfunding options for creators

By | Published on Wednesday 28 May 2014

YouTube

YouTube has announced plans to add crowdfunding options to its platform as part of a number of new updates, perhaps in a bid to take up the slack once it’s put the entire independent label sector out of business.

In a new video previewing forthcoming updates for creators, YouTube Product Manager Jehan Ratnatunga noted that some producers of video content are already raising money via crowdfunding services. However, he said, “the problem is, a lot of this funding is happening away from YouTube. So, I’ve been thinking about how we can do this directly on YouTube, allowing fans to fund the creators that they really love”.

YouTube, of course, has come under considerable fire recently for its royalty payments to the music industry, and its negotiating tactics with indie labels as it tries to get a new streaming service off the ground. These crowdfunding options won’t do anything to calm that anger, but it will be interesting to see if and how musicians use the crowdfunding options on the video platform once they go live.

Watch the only slightly irritating video about the various new updates coming soon for YouTube content creators here:



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