YouTube competitor Vimeo launched its Vimeo on Demand service this week at South by Southwest. Vimeo on Demand is an open self-distribution service allowing members to charge those who view their posted videos. The company plans to let members choose their own prices for their videos. The creators will get 90 percent of the profits while Vimeo takes in the other 10 percent.

The video creators will also be able to choose in which geographic locations to make their works available and will be able to set other rules such as whether customers can stream and/or download their content.

“The company said it is launching the new initiative with an expanded version of ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day,’ an animated short by Oscar-nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt. The video will cost $2 to rent or $6 to purchase,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.

While getting people to pay for non-premium video online is a difficult task, Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor is “hopeful, and he cites a previous initiative called the Tip Jar as reason for his optimism. With the Tip Jar, viewers were asked to voluntarily give money to creators of their favorite Vimeo videos, and many did, with the mean average amount being $5 per tip,” explains the article.

“We see that as a very encouraging number,” Trainor said. “Vimeo is committed to empowering creators with tools to display and distribute their work in beautiful HD quality. With the addition of Vimeo on Demand, creators can now use Vimeo to control the way they earn revenue and retain a significant portion of the proceeds.”

Vimeo’s Creator Services suite launched in November. The suite first offered Tip Jar as a means of generating revenue, and then later came Movies, “the first pay-to-view experience on Vimeo, featuring six full-length films that would never have had a home on Vimeo before,” explains a Vimeo blog post.

“Now we’re thrilled to announce that Movies were just an appetizer,” adds the post. “Introducing the main course: Vimeo On Demand, a totally open platform that enables you to sell your work directly to your audience. If you’re a Vimeo PRO member, you can distribute your work the way you want, with all the power of Vimeo’s HD player, easy-to-use tools, and wildly passionate audience.”