Can Vevo Monetize Music Videos and Help Save the Major Labels?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The plot to save digital music — or one of them anyway — is being hatched in midtown Manhattan, where Vevo, a digital joint venture between two labels representing nearly 60% of the U.S. recorded music market — Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment — is gearing up for a planned December launch.
Announced earlier this year, Vevo is the label’s latest attempt to mine a vein of revenue from digital music. Initially backed by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Vevo was dubbed the “Hulu for music,” and while there are many similarities, there’s one key difference: Vevo will be built on YouTube’s infrastructure, but it will control the distribution of videos from participating labels on YouTube and sites around the web, from Yahoo to MTV.
The venture has quite a bit riding on it. The sale of physical CDs is in decline, and the sale of digital music through stores such as Apple’s iTunes is flattening out. There are those who believe music itself is moving from the sale of a product — such as a CD or digital file — to a service — such as Pandora, Last.fm or Imeem — but subscription services remain a niche phenomenon.
So if the future of the music business is brand advertising, then that means video, and Vevo is the labels’ biggest attempt to make the music videos on the web a premium experience, worthy of ad rates of $20 or even $40 per thousand.
via Adage
