Directory:BetterStream
BetterStream (found at BetterStream.com) is a brand new video sharing site with an outspoken belief that all video creators and artists alike must be compensated for their efforts in distributing their work online, not just those users who have met certain critera. All those who sign up for a free membership at BetterStream.com are instantly users and "Partners". And each partner (or user) has a banner ad space connected to all of their webpages and videos that are associated with their account, and this ad space is reserved solely for that user.
He or she can upload an endless series of banner ads that will randomly alternate whenever a visitor loads one of his or her videos, music tracks, and or visits the user's homepage. Additionally, users will soon be able to choose to opt into BetterStream's ad-sharing program and split revenue with BetterStream (the majority of which would go to the user) according to articles on the website.
In addition to partnering all users, BetterStream also promotes entertainers and other users who have content that is quote "Better than Mainstream", giving preferential treatment to content that fits BetterStream's number one goal of mocking mainstream media and entertainment.
BetterStream was founded by a former YouTube user, Ben Ligeri, who claims YouTube treats artists like himself unfairly, according to his "About the Founder" section on BetterStream, which is a multi-page article captioned as "A true tale of Ben Ligeri's life-draining and changing journies through the entertainment industry and how it would eventually lead him to the formation of an honest, artist-centered company called BetterStream Entertainment, which would ultimately lead him in a direction of, not just Better Entertainment, but a "Better" life."
BetterStream's goal is to be "Better than Mainstream" (and to be altogether "Better" than the rest) as their website articles consistently put forth. They allow MP3's of any quality to be uploaded, and they are not converted at all, which means they will play in the original quality uploaded. For example, Myspace converts tracks at 128kbps, but one could upload a 256kbps mp3 to BetterStream and it will playback at the very quality.
Likewise, .flv's uploaded to BetterStream are not converted either, but are left alone to stream in the original quality uploaded. All other video formats uploaded to the site are converted (transcoded) to .flv in a high variable bitrate.
