Wtf is LBRY/odysee and how does it work?
can the platform compete with advertising based models?
LBRY is a video hosting platform based on cryptocurrency, it has been named as a more open competitor to YouTube. They have recently created a more user friendly web interface at https://odysee.com, this is the way I’ve chosen to interact with the platform.
Use my invite code https://odysee.com/$/invite/@nine:e to register.
the experience
For the review I cut and uploaded a video of my own.
Please don’t judge the video quality on this alone, the footage was very underexposed once I got it into the NLE.
The site is modern, attractive and clean. Videos upload quickly and easily, and the MP4/AAC codec is well supported in most video editors. You are required to encode your videos in MP4/AAC, limit your resolution to 720pHD, your file sizes to under 4GB, and your datarate to 5mb/s. This is fine for mobile content, but for users of smart televisions or high resolution displays this is very grainy. I suspect this is a technical limitation of the system, as there are no playback quality sliders or encoding period. It is disappointing that they did not spec out FullHD as a minimum.
The content itself is mixed: the advanced algorithms YouTube employs to hide unprofessional content and people simply video hosting are missing. This is a little refreshing as there was getting to be very little “You” in YouTube. The users range from FOSS geeks, the usual cryptocurrency true believers, mid tier (50k+) YouTubers aiming to diversify platforms or get a better deal than Youtube offers, and right wing and libertarian commentators that need to edge around bans on major platforms.
The major earner for YouTube is drama content, makeup tutorials, and reviews targeting women. This raises questions in the long term for the viability of the platform in a head to head competition with YouTube, as this genre is about the only one that doesn’t get undercut by YouTube corporate. The content exists, but large players and money spinners in the space probably have hidden exclusivity deals. On the other hand a platform for indie videos that integrates monetisation, doesn’t require a network to get support, and doesn’t expect people to grind out free content for months or years to get started is very welcome, and as the deal on YT gets worse there may be a mutiny to alt-tech.
Not every one has the production value to really stress the limitations.
cryptocurrency based?
For the most part you can ignore fancy implementation details like the blockchain, you have an LBC balance in the top right and that’s about it. Where early YT competitors couldn’t pay me to use their service LBRY actually did.
Registering on the site opens an LBC wallet for you and credits you 0.5 LBC. Each LBC has a cash value hovering between 10 and 11 Aussie cents. These credits are spent both on the network to update and validate db transactions in the blockchain, but also may be tipped to content creators, or cashed out as you see fit. Validated accounts can collect credits as rewards for watching and uploading content, and as awards for community activity. You can validate quickly and easily with a mobile phone number or a credit card.
Two days in and I’ve earned double what I ever did on YouTube, and google won’t cut me a cheque for my FUCKING THIRTY CENTS FROM 2015!
downsides
The cryptocurrency system has the problem of being simultaneously too transparent and too opaque. For example: uploading a video should cost 0.01 LBC, however transaction fees are not recorded in the interface meaning that reviewing my account records there is more than 0.12 LBC unaccounted for (.01 AUD). Editing the metadata of a video hosted on the platform says that it costs the same as an upload: this is extremely cheap at a fraction of a cent, but it is weird that it’s the same as an upload.
There are plenty of people that are insulted by the quality limitations imposed by YT, it is doubtful that creators that want to upload high quality, high bitrate cinematography will ever migrate.
edit: there are apparently some regional limitations, because you must hold LBC to use the platform citizens of countries where cryptocurrencies are regulated/illegal cannot verify and maintain a chanel (here). Cheers LibreArts from twitter.
conclusion
Yeah nah, it’s a thing I reckon.
Register here to give it a shot https://odysee.com/$/invite/@nine:e.
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