YouTube, UMG Pair Up For Music-Video Site 'Vevo'
Service to Launch In the Next Few Months
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/9/2009 4:54:45 PM
Google -- in another bid to wring money out of its hugely popular YouTube site -- will team up with Universal Music Group to launch a premium music video site called Vevo later this year.
The companies expect to launch Vevo in the next few months. YouTube and UMG will share advertising revenue on YouTube and Vevo under the terms of the deal.
When it launches, according to the companies, Vevo will host UMG's entire catalog of premium music video content, including professionally created and full-length videos. UMG's artists include U2, Kanye West, Sting, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain and Bon Jovi.
On YouTube, the content will be available through Vevo.com and a new Vevo channel through a special branded embedded player.
"Technology has allowed fans to discover music in endless ways while creating new business opportunities for artists and labels alike," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement. "At Google, we are committed to promoting greater innovation and choice and are thrilled to be working with UMG in what will surely be an exciting new service for consumers, advertisers, content creators and the music industry at large."
Google has tried different strategies to increase revenue generated by YouTube, which the search giant bought in 2006 in a deal worth $1.65 billion at the time.
According to one analyst estimate, YouTube could turn in a $470 million loss in 2009 because of high bandwidth and content-licensing costs.
In addition to announcing plans for Vevo, YouTube said it renewed and extended deal with UMG to allow users to continue creating and watching user-generated videos containing UMG sound recordings and its publishing group's compositions on YouTube.
UMG's YouTube video channel has registered more than 3.5 billion views, making it the most-watched section of the No. 1 Internet video destination.
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