YouTube + Creative Commons = awesome. Starting tomorrow at 9am Pacific time, YouTube will offer the option to license videos with the Creative Commons CC-By-3.0 license, and will introduce new remixing options in YouTube's cloud-based video editor.
At launch, YouTube reps told me over the phone earlier today, only the one license option will be available (as opposed to, say, a choice from multiple license classes which include options to disallow commercial re-use). The thinking, they said, is to start simple. M multiple license classes might be overwhelmingly complex for casual users for whom this may be a first introduction to Creative Commons, the logic goes. The folks at Youtube behind the project consulted with people at Creative Commons. Not sure I agree, but it's a step in a good direction, and I applaud that.
From leaked YouTube announcement, which will go live in the AM:
Now, look no further than the Creative Commons library accessible through YouTube Video Editor to make this happen. Creative Commons provides a simple way to grant and use copyright permissions to creative works. You can now access an ever-expanding library of Creative Commons videos to edit and incorporate into your own projects. To find a video, just search in the YouTube search bar or from within the YouTube Video Editor. We're working with organizations like C-SPAN, PublicResource.org, Voice of America, Al Jazeera and others, so that over 10,000 Creative Commons videos are available for your creative use.
To get started, visit youtube.com/editor and select the CC tab:
Any video you create using Creative Commons content will automatically show the source videos' titles underneath the video player:
As part of the Creative Commons launch on YouTube, you'll also be able to mark any or all of your videos with the Creative Commons CC BY license that lets others share and remix your work, so long as they give you credit. To mark your video with the Creative Commons license, select 'Creative Commons Attribution license' on the upload page or on the Video Description page:
* YouTube didn't intend the news to go live today; users spotted something wonky when someone made a mistake on the stealth part, and news leaked out early. I have never heard of this blog, but the reminder of "internal dogfood" as a Silicon Valley term was amusing, and revealing.
