Attention Vimeo Filmmakers! Make Money on Your Films Today!

Video-streaming platform Vimeo has announced today two new plans to help filmmakers who upload content to the site to make revenue.  

Starting today, Vimeo Plus or Pro members with videos uploaded to the site will be able to raise money by activating the new Tip Jar feature. A pay-to-view service will be launched in early 2013 for Vimeo Pro subscribers.

Vimeo, which boasts 75 million monthly unique visitors and has over 13 million registered members, has focused its business on providing a clean viewing experience for web video. But the site is well known for not allowing advertisements to run before or after videos, which is a revenue source for some filmmakers who use other services such as YouTube to stream their content.

New platforms for VOD distribution are becoming more and more common. YouTube has entered the business in recent years, and new sites devoted to digital distribution such as VHX (profiled on Indiewire yesterday) continue to crop up.

Vimeo’s Tip Jar, which can be activated by Vimeo Plus and Pro users beginning Wednesday, Sept. 19, allows any viewer to donate funds to filmmakers before, during or after watching a film. Vimeo will then pay 85 percent of the gross revenue raised through the Tip Jar to the creator.

Beginning early next year, Vimeo’s pay-to-view feature will be open to Vimeo Pro subscribers who want an alternative to other rental and VOD models. The service will be beta testing a curated slate of films this fall before opening up the service to all Pro members in early 2013.

For more information on the plans at Vimeo, check out the video below: