When I think about too much content out there, one of the things that comes to mind for me is just the volume of really outstanding creators there are.
Our core market has been historically gamers and digital content creators such as car designers and movie makers.
We're trying to evolve a lot away from YouTube because YouTube is awesome - they have a huge audience, and we started there - but then you're at the mercy of their algorithms a lot, too. They can change anything, and it's really up to them, and you can't say anything about it.
I think it's good news that cable television is so, so supportive of the Louis C.K.s, the Lena Dunhams, the Matthew Weiners, and the Vince Gilligans. There's just so many people fearlessly making their stuff, you know?
Netflix, Amazon, iTunes - whatever platforms emerge - we are looking at as having the same potential that home video had for the movie business. Which means there are entirely new opportunities to monetize our capital investment in content and do so in ways that work for distributors, for consumers and for creators.
The same applies to the music and film industries. Until the heads of the labels start wanting to make money rather than creating controversy, tension, and excuses about why piracy is making the job so hard that no one could do it but them - and oh by the way, they need a raise to really focus in on the fight - the music industry is going to have a very tough time of it.
As a creator, I want my content to be where people can watch it.
People who don't want to give a creator money are never going to give a creator money.
Social media is so powerful now, and with all these blog sites and YouTube channels and videos, it makes it more and more relevant to bridge artists together.
Somebody has to pay our editors, writers, journalists, designers, developers, and all the other specialists whose passion and tears go into every chunk of worthwhile web content.
I've always felt that technology companies have disrespected the content creation process, and the content creation people disrespect technology.
Thanks to Twitter, Reddit, web media, and social media, we have the opportunity now to kind of blur that line between the people who produce the content, the people that watch it, and instead make it a conversation, make it a real community.
Let's be honest with ourselves, YouTubers click on the trending tab for one single reason... to analyze what is on the trending tab and then complain that it isn't what we think it should be.
I believe that those of us who are the producers and purveyors of television, I believe that we are the servants of this nation.
My views on piracy and illegal streaming are I think it's illegal for a reason, and I feel like there's a lot of people working hard behind the scenes to get the fights going and showing things on TV.
The interesting thing about the top 200 to 300 tweeters - a lot of them are musicians, actors, etc. LeBron James, etc. I think Lady Gaga is number one. But! They're not all celebrities. There's 'CNN Breaking News.' And the 'New York Times.' And other brands like Gary Vaynerchuk, who aren't really that known outside that world.
YouTube, for me, is the primary platform.
All the Vine creators, we knew our home, the place we started on was slowly reaching a plateau.
I first discovered YouTube while browsing the web, and then I found people just talking into their cameras. I never even knew it was a thing you could do. William Sledd was my first YouTube obsession. He was so unapologetically himself, and just had fun talking to his audience about things that interested him. I thought - if he could do it, why couldn't I?
The whole cable-TV original programming just changed the nature of television.
Publishers are born connectors; they bring like-minded people together. They are also conversationalists of the first order. They foster the interaction between the three key parties in commercial media: the audience, the author/creator and the marketer.
A lot of YouTubers get that mainstream celebrity, they get these big deals, maybe a book deal or a TV deal or whatever it is they aspired to do, and they kind of abandon ship on what got them to that point.
What's the right way to think about the distribution part of Steam? You need to worry about viruses and people trying to publish other people's content, but the underlying thing is to eliminate that barrier between people who create stuff and people who want to have access to it.
The complexity and nuance of YouTube's culture, creators, drama, genres, styles, and memes is what makes it wonderful for people on the inside, but it is also a wall that keeps people on the outside.
I think that every artist - or anybody that's in business - could benefit from a direct-to-consumer strategy, so I think that that applies to us as artists and content creators, too.
