While Vimeo has carved a niche out for itself as a hub for independent video makers, Amazon has a major advantage in terms of reach and device support. The company also promises detailed metrics for seeing how your content is doing, including "minutes a title was streamed, projected revenue, payment history, or number of subscribers."

You'll get 50 percent of revenues from rentals and purchases, and 55 percent for ad revenue, Variety reports. Prime Video content will earn 15 cents per hour streamed in the US, and 6 cents every hour elsewhere (earnings are also capped at $75,000 per video). Amazon's launch partners for the new program include Conde Nast, Machinima and Samuel Goldwyn films.

To sweeten the pot, Amazon is also kicking off the AVD Stars program, which will give video makers a chance to make bonus revenue from a pot of a million dollars, based on how much people view their content. Yes, that's on top of the revenue the videos make on their own. Not surprisingly, Amazon is automatically enrolling creators who put their content on Prime Video. It's unclear what the signup process will be like if you choose to go the standard VOD route. For now, it seems like a smart way to tempt people into populating Prime Video with content.