In a major development for independent content creators, Amazon is inviting all creators to post videos to its Amazon Video service and earn royalties based on hours streamed. The service went live today.

Amazon Video Direct (AVD) is a self-service platform that puts the e-commerce giant in direct competition with video sites like Youtube and Vimeo. AVD makes video content available for free to all Amazon Prime members, who number in the “tens of millions”, and pays creators based on the amount of time the content is streamed.

In addition to streaming, AVD provides other options to creators: content can be made available to rent or own, viewable for free with advertisements, or packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription (through the Streaming Partners program).