Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 12:42 PM PT

YouTube Concedes to Music Industry With Off-Site Vevo Hub for UMG

Universal Music Group and YouTube formally announced today Vevo, their expected music video web venture. Details about how the site will be implemented are still pretty sparse; it will be “ready later this year,” will include content other than music videos, and options to buy merchandise and concert tickets. Other labels may still join.

Vevo is the first satellite web site for YouTube, and the move should be seen as a concession since it detracts from the value of YouTube as a portal and an interlinked community. As we wrote last month, “Creating a labels-only music video site would shatter YouTube’s would-be role as a single searchable hub for all the world’s video.” Under pressure to make money, YouTube is acquiescing to UMG’s desire to have a separate music site out of the user-generated fray. The move comes after content from music labels and publishing groups such as Warner Music Group, the UK’s Performing Rights Society and German royalty collections group GEMA, have disappeared from YouTube following unsuccessful contract negotiations.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly said at a joint press conference with UMG that he hopes to introduce additional YouTube satellite sites in the Vevo mold.

UMG chairman and CEO Doug Morris said his company now earns roughly $70 million per year on music video distribution, after having lost about that same amount on music video production for unpaid promotion in the past. UMG is the most-viewed YouTube channel of all time, with 3.8 billion video views.

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Topic: Online Video

Comments (4)

Two companies that have never successfully built a media company/brand/experience coming together to form a media brand & experience. We shall see.

TheCommentator — 1:51 PM on April 9, 2009 Reply
What we have here is a class system, Youtube for UGC and Vevo for Pro content. Whether Youtube UGC can trade-up to Vevo Pro content is a ?

Trading up to Pro level may mean cutting a deal with the; dear I say it… “The Majors”.

Neno Brown — 2:27 PM on April 9, 2009 Reply
Looks like YouTube is now a player in the high end white label publishing business. Good move.

Akash — 8:42 PM on April 9, 2009 Reply
Very excellent Job. Best of Luck.

William — 8:52 AM on April 10, 2009 Reply

Linkbacks (11)

[...] Google and Univeral Music have decided to play nicely. In order to appease Universal’s concerns about their music videos on YouTube, the two companies will launch Vevo, a site dedicated to videos from Universal artists. I feel like as a music fan and internet junkie I should have an opinion on this, but oddly I don’t. [...]

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[...] wie dieser könnten YouTube aus der Verlustzone helfen. Google-CEO Eric Schmidt hat auf der gemeinsamen Pressekonferenz bereits darauf hingedeutet, dass weitere YouTube-Satelliten kommen [...]

VEVO: YouTube und Universal machen gemeinsame… — 6:31 AM on April 13, 2009
[...] YouTube Concedes to Music Industry With Off-Site Vevo Hub for UMG – Newteevee.comUniversal Music Group and YouTube formally announced today Vevo , their expected music video web venture. Details about how the site will be implemented are still pretty sparse; it will be “ ready later this year ,” will include content other [...]

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[...] YouTube Concedes to Music Industry With Off-Site Vevo Hub for UMG (via NewTeeVee) [...]

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[...] tracks from the company’s albums are automatically muted. But rival Universal Music Group recently announced a planned new joint music video venture with the site called [...]

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[...] nuevo sitio, con nueva marca, dado que la presencia de música es tan importante en YouTube, reduce el valor del sitio y lo traslada a otro. Hasta los vídeos que se podrán buscar a través de YouTube se [...]

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[...] is making its own premium content moves with Disney clips, movies and TV shows from Sony and music from Universal. Not to mention big media companies like CBS, Warner Bros. and Comcast all have their own premium [...]

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[...] event seems a little small for the video-sharing giant. But perhaps concerts will become a part of Vevo, YouTube’s upcoming satellite spin-off with Universal [...]

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[...] Music Entertainment announced today it will join Vevo, the music video and content-related site conceived by Universal Music and YouTube. Terms of the agreement were not [...]

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[...] take is that Vevo’s existence is not a winning scenario for YouTube, since it takes the site’s single most-trafficked video category and moves it elsewhere. But [...]

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YouTube Concedes to Music Industry With Off-Site Vevo Hub for UMG

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