At Digital Hollywood Spring 09 I interviewed The Fine Brothers about all the different things they are doing to make money online with web video.

It sounds like they have quit their day jobs and they are making a little bit of money creating videos for Comedy Central and a few other but they say they are still sleeping on blow up mattresses.

I’ve been going to Digital Hollywood for many years and the funny thing that I noticed about Digital Hollywood was that this time, it was “parents and teenagers.” By that I mean there were several more of us online video people (the teenagers) there than have been in the past and it seemed like there were more of the people who work for real companies (the grown ups). As in the real word, the teens know how to use all the new toys (social media) and the adults know how to pay for the toys but are very cautious about spending money on shinning new things.

It was very cool to see these two worlds coming together and even more exciting to hear that The Fine Brothers are holding on to ownership to the videos that they create. It upsets me to no end to see people create videos with value and get paid nothing for their hard work and creativity.

If you are an online video producer, director or writer who is able to get millions of views of your online videos you have a gift, a talent that other people don’t have. Not anyone with a camera can do what you do and you should retain ownership of your videos and be paid for them in some way shape or form or be paid a lot of money upfront. Don’t be taken advantage of and exploited the way that African American recording artists were in the 1950s. You have something special. Don’t give it away.