Labels aim to profit on music videos online

FROM VARIETY: Majors band with YouTube to push content

By Steve Chagollan and Marc Graser of Variety -- Video Business, 6/22/2009

JUNE 22 | FROM VARIETY: The major music labels used to give away musicvideos to promote their acts — so much so that MTV used that largesse to build a cable network — much to the ire of music publishers.

But as their other revenue streams struggle, the labels are eying the Web as a way to make those promos more profitable for themselves, either by charging viewers to watch them or by selling advertising around the productions.

Enter Vevo, the brainchild of Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Doug Morris, which launches later this year. Plans are to turn the website, backed by UMG and Sony Music Entertainment, into a premium musicvideo and entertainment service that will lure the millions of fans who currently get their musicvids from YouTube and MySpace.

Read the full story on Variety.com

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