From: The N.Y. Times via CNet.com —

Posting user-produced videos to YouTube was, until recently, an amusing passtime for millions. Now, however, it’s becoming a lucrative job for an increasing number of full-time Tubers.

As the New York Times’ Brian Stelter reports, “One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become ‘partners’ and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site.”

The partner program includes all sorts of users, from individuals to entertainment mega-corps promoting their latest releases.

“Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS (publisher of CNET News) and Warner Bros. But individual users are now able to compete alongside them. [Michael] Buckley [a 33 year old former music industry executive from Connecticut], who did not even have high-speed Internet access two years ago, said his YouTube hobby had changed his financial life.”

The bottom line?

YouTube has become an icon of what Stelter calls, “the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing.”