YouTube wants to host "every music video ever created"

YouTube, in an apparent bid to license legal content that folks actually want to download (yes, we're skeptical that the homemade video of your friend on the trampoline is driving much of the site's 100 million daily views), has just announced an ambitious plan to become the MTV of Web 2.0.

"What we really want to do is in six to 12 months, maybe 18 months, to have every music video ever created up on YouTube," co-founder Steve Chen told Reuters. "We're trying to bring in as much of this content as we can on to the site."

YouTube is still working out its business model with the record labels who control the videos, but the very fact that the labels are interested in talking with the site's management shows that the entertainment industry recognizes the opportunity here. They're hoping that you've never experienced "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" until you've experienced it by the blue glow of your computer screen.

Rather than sue the site out of existence (YouTube does host a staggering array of copyrighted clips, including an amazing array of music videos), the industry has generally turned a blind eye to the copyright problems as YouTube traffic has soared. The site is now one of the top 50 in the world and provides a powerful marketing platform to companies who can learn how to take advantage.

With that kind of growth, problems are not unexpected, but YouTube servers have proved generally reliable. They did suffer a major, six-hour outage yesterday, though, which was deemed newsworthy in countries ranging from the UK to Australia. That alone tells you all you need to know about their rate of growth and global reach.