• New York Post, Tuesday, November 14, 2006 12 PM

A YouTube backlash may be coming after recent moves to secure copyrighted material have ignored the online video provider's most valuable asset: its user base.

As YouTube and now Google continue to search for a way to make money from the video site's success, some of its users are feeling left behind. Now they, like the record and film studios, want compensation for the revenue they generate. Says Paul Robinett, who's created more than 130 videos under the name "renetto": "The majority of the content on YouTube belongs to people like me, yet they seem to be cutting deals with everyone that owns content but us."

Increasingly, commercial content rules on YouTube. Professional content makers are cutting deals that prominently place their materials over those created by people like Robinett. YouTube has ad revenue-share deals in place with NBC, CBS, Warner Music Group, SonyBMG, Universal Music and Showtime, and is on the lookout for more.

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