Dovetail ponies up: A dime a download

The online distribution site Dovetail is announcing that it'll start compensating filmmakers. From the press release:

Dovetail (www.dovetail.tv), the online destination for independent programming and distribution in high-quality HD/DVD formats, today announced that it will begin to make monthly payments to artist promoting their work on Dovetail based on the number of downloads for each independent feature film, short, TV program or music video the content producer generates. Under the newly announced bonus program, independent filmmakers are directly compensated for every audience member they attract, receiving $0.10 for each download of contributed works.

“Dovetail is truly committed to the Indie artist and fan, and we’re working to do things for these people that Hollywood simply won’t do,” said Jason Holloway, co-founder and CEO of Dovetail. “We continue to hear about big media brand names making deals that completely ignore the true independents. Our team got together and decided it was time for us to make a ‘deal’ for them.”

When I'm back from CES, I'll add them to my list of Web sites that pay producers for content.

But in other news today, Metacafe had some data about content producers earning money on its site: "The top 8 creators have earned more than $10,000 each, and three creators have taken home more than $20,000 apiece," according to a press release.