Some YouTube content creators will soon get the opportunity to test their artistic abilities – and their audiences’ patience – more than ever before.  YouTube announced today that it will let select guideline-abiding users upload videos of any length.

The previous limit, which will still apply in many cases, was 15 minutes, so this represents a big adjustment.  YouTube credited advances in its Content ID system, since it now has to worry less about people uploading entire movies divided into multiple clips.

The launch of Google TV is probably another reason for the adjustment, since a few more YouTube users will now be watching content in the comfort of their dens rather than from an office chair.

Anyway, product manager Joshua Siegel and software engineer Doug Mayle wrote on the YouTube Blog, "So go find that movie you wrote and filmed last year and share it with the world!  Or upload your son’s championship high school basketball game or the insightful lecture you just gave on the emerging economics of green tech.  As long as it’s your original content, it’s fair game regardless of length."

It should be interesting to see what (if any) changes in YouTube’s culture occur as a result.

One side note: our compliments to Siegel and Mayle on identifying "The Muppets: Beaker’s Ballad" as a video they’d recently watched.