I’ve posted a couple times in the past about a nearly 3 year project I’ve been working on, learning human history chronologically from the evolution of mankind to, eventually, the present (right now, I’m on the cusp of the crusades in 1095). I’ve been going, essentially, decade by decade around the globe. So I’ve studied all the major world civilizations up to the year 1095.

I use open internet sources, mostly. Podcasts, YouTube, documentaries, and a book here and there for topics that really interest me. Along the way, I’ve been compiling two chronological playlists: of history podcast episodes and YouTube history episodes. I plan to write a brief Description and Introduction (a master sheet or “how to use” basically). And then I plan to make both playlists, along with the master sheet, public. If you follow the master sheet, one can learn human history from beginning to end, just by listening to podcasts and watching the YouTube playlist in order.

My questions:

1. Is this ethical? Should I contact the dozens of content creators included on my playlists and get their permission?

2. If ethical, would it still be ethical if I tried to monetize it? I imagine not, so I’ve envisioned trying to contact the various creators and negotiating a royalty percentage. I doubt I would even try to monetize, but if I did, I want to be squared up. And I doubt it would make much money anyways.

3. Best way to get this project to the public?

4. I’ve thought about offering the entire project as a whole, but also breaking the playlist up into Prehistory, Bronze Age, Antiquity, Middle Ages, and (when I get there) Modern History volumes and offering each separately if desired. Which would you prefer?

5. Any other insight is greatly appreciated. I’ve had so much fun doing this that I’ve just wanted to share. Maybe a few people will follow the journey I’ve been taking the last 3 years. And making it audio-visual as opposed to the hundreds of world history books out there has been very rewarding to me and I assume would be to others as well.

Thanks!