Music Videos

Vevo to Debut Music Video Portal on Dec. 8

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 18, 2009 - 1:23pm.
New York - Vevo, the music video joint venture between Sony Music and Universal Music that will use technology from Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, is set to launch on Dec. 8, the company announced via its Twitter feed. The labels hope the standalone site will help them further monetize their music videos -- which are the most-watched content on all of YouTube.

EMI First Record Label to Bring Music Videos to Hulu

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 18, 2009 - 1:03pm.
London - U.K.-based EMI has signed a deal to become the first major record label to feature its music videos on Hulu, the video portal joint venture between NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Disney (NYSE: DIS).
tags: Video | Music | Music Videos | EMI | Hulu | Vevo |

Blinkx Launches Music Video Search Feature

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 27, 2009 - 12:12pm.
San Francisco - Blinkx, the provider of a searchable index of Web videos, on Tuesday announced the launch of blinkx Music, a new tool for finding and watching music videos that has indexed over 33,000 hours of music video from over 10,000 artists. The new feature lets users search by artist, album, genre or song, and also features artist information as well as the ability to post comments.

Labels, Artists Target YouTube in Germany Over Copyrights

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 27, 2009 - 11:45am.
*A correction was made to this story.

Hamburg, Germany
- Google and YouTube face a copyright-related investigation in Germany, after a group of independent labels, publishers and artists filed complaints against the companies, Billboard reported. Parties to the complaints include labels Highball Music and Coconut Music; publishers Gerig Musikverlage, Bishop Songs and Musikverlag Progressive; and artists including soprano Sarah Brightman.

AT&T to Sponsor Vevo Music Video Portal Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 27, 2009 - 10:33am.
New York - Vevo, the online music video portal joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music and Abu Dhabi Media Company, has signed AT&T (NYSE: T) as the first sponsor of the site.

MySpace Adds Music Video Portal, iTunes Links, Artist Dashboard

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 22, 2009 - 10:41am.
Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Thursday announced the launch of a number of new music-related features, including a music video portal, integrated purchase links to iTunes, and an analytics tool for artists and labels using the site to promote their recordings.

Independent Label Group PIAS Signs YouTube Deal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 19, 2009 - 12:00pm.
London - Independent record label PIAS Entertainment Group has signed a deal with Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, under which PIAS sell and manage the advertising sold against videos from its artists on the site, and share revenue with artists. The deal includes both official and user-generated videos, and will additionally see the parties collaborate on channel and page sponsorships.

Abu Dhabi Invests in Music Video Portal Joint Venture Vevo

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 19, 2009 - 8:19am.
New York - Vevo, the music video portal joint venture between Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music and Universal Music Group, has received an investment from Abu Dhabi Media Company, All Things D reports. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the report cites a source who says the joint venture was valued at $300 million for the deal.

Warner Music Taps Outrigger Media for Music Video Ad Sales

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 8, 2009 - 11:36am.
New York - Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has partnered with Outrigger Media to sell advertising against its music videos on YouTube, as well as WMG-operated sites and other platforms. WMG recently reached a new agreement with YouTube, after pulling its videos for a nine-month period after negotiations broke down. Outrigger also sells ads for video publishers including Veoh and Next New Networks.

Buma/Sterma Seeks Fees from Bloggers on Music Video Embeds

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 8, 2009 - 10:29am.
Amsterdam - Dutch royalty collection society Buma/Sterma plans to institute new licensing fees on websites and blogs that embed music videos, to the tune of $191 for six embedded videos, up to $1,914 for more than 30 embeds, TechCrunch reports.

Warner Music Videos to Return to YouTube

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2009 - 8:34am.
New York - Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has signed a new licensing agreement with Google's YouTube (NASD: GOOG), which will see the major record label's music videos return to the site after a nine-month absence. In recent weeks, several outlets had reported that a deal between the two parties was close.

Report: Warner Music, YouTube Close to Music Video Deal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 21, 2009 - 9:20am.
New York - Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) and Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube "have managed to reach terms on most of the major issues" of a dispute over licensing music videos for display on YouTube, and "a final deal could be announced within the next few weeks," CNET News.com reported, citing sources with knowledge of the talks.

PRS Deal Brings Music Videos Back to YouTube in U.K.

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 3, 2009 - 7:27am.
London - U.K. royalty collection society PRS for Music announced on Thursday that it has reached a new licensing agreement with Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, which will return music videos to the site in the U.K. Videos had largely been absent on YouTube in the U.K. since March, when PRS pulled them after unsuccessful licensing renegotiations.

Report: Vevo in Talks with CBS, NBC to Add Music Programming

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 8:34am.
New York - Vevo, the music video site joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music that will be based on technology from Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, is in talks with CBS (NYSE: CBS) and NBC (NYSE: GE) to license and develop music-related programming for the site, Reuters reported.

Report: Vevo Music Video JV Raising Funds at $300M Valuation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2009 - 9:31am.
Los Angeles - Vevo, the music video website joint venture between Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, and major record labels Universal Music and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music, is currently in the process of raising new funding at a $300 million valuation, PaidContent reported.

Muzu.tv Adds Merlin-Represented Indie Music Videos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 20, 2009 - 11:35am.
Dublin, Ireland - Muzu.tv, an Ireland-based music video portal, announced on Monday a licensing deal with Merlin, a consortium of independent record labels. The deal will see music videos from independent artists on labels including Beggars Group, Domino, Warp and Epitaph added on Muzu. Along with music videos, the site also offers concerts, documentaries, interviews and episodes of classic music TV shows.

Interactive Video Firm Clickthrough Secures $1 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 16, 2009 - 7:15am.
San Francisco - Clickthrough, a provider of interactive audience measurement for video encoding and analytics, announced on Thursday that it has secured $1 million in new financing.

CNET: Warner Music, YouTube Revisit Video Licensing Talks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 13, 2009 - 7:32am.
San Francisco - Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) is once again negotiating terms for licensing music videos to Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, following a dispute that saw Warner pull its video catalog from the site in December 2008, CNET News.com reported.

ASCAP Seeks Royalties on Embedded YouTube Music Videos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 9, 2009 - 9:59am.
New York - Performing rights organization ASCAP, which represents 350,000 U.S. songwriter and music publishers, has begun to seek royalty payments from websites that embed YouTube (NASD: GOOG) videos containing its members' music, Valleywag reported.

Report: Indie Labels in Talks to Join VEVO Music Video Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 9, 2009 - 11:56am.
San Francisco - VEVO, the music video site in the works from Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, Universal Music Group and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music, is in talks to sign on A2IM, a consortium of over 225 independent record labels, Wired.com reported.