Vevo, the music industry’s attempt to create a Hulu-like site for its music videos, will formally launch Dec. 8. The site, which is co-owned by Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony’s music label and Abu Dhabi Media, will host a New York kick-off event that day.
Are Warner Music Group and EMI, which have been circling each other for nearly a decade, finally ready to consummate their relationship?
That’s the obvious question in light of news that both Terra Firma, the private equity group that bought EMI in 2007, and Citigroup, which funded most of that transaction, have written down most of their investments in the music company.
iPods with cameras? Maybe. iTunes with new features? For sure. iTunes with Beatles? Nope.
I’m sure that Apple will indeed sell the Fab Four’s music via its digital music store one day. But it’s not happening at Apple’s keynote presentation tomorrow.
Spotify is the best music service you’ve never used. That’s because the much-hyped streaming music company is only available for Europeans and for a select few in the U.S. who have either gotten sneak peeks or hacked their way into it. The service took one step toward wider distribution today when Apple approved its iPhone app. But that won’t help U.S. users until the big music labels agree to American distribution deals.
The world’s largest video site and the world’s biggest music company are joining up. Google’s YouTube and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group will be launching a new site, dubbed VEVO, which will highlight UMG’s videos. This is essentially what I’ve been calling “YouTube Music,” and it’s been in the works since last fall; in March I reported that the two sides had basically hammered out a deal. It’s a pretty big deal for YouTube, the music business, and the rest of the media world.
Hot off the presses from EMI and Apple Corps, the Beatles’ holding company: a press release that goes on for 461 words about plans for yet another repackaging of the Fab Four’s albums–on CDs. And then these two sentences: “Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.” Because why rush into anything?
Apple has finally rolled out the “flexible pricing” plan it announced earlier this year at its music store. If you’re a casual music consumer, and that phrase doesn’t mean anything to you, let me rephrase it: Many of your favorite songs will now cost 30 percent more at iTunes.
Douglas Merrill, the Google vet tapped by struggling record label EMI to run its digital operations a year ago, is out. He doesn’t have a formal replacement, but the company’s top digital exec will now be Cory Ondrejka, whom Merrill brought in as his number two. Merrill’s hire in April 2008 was supposed to represent EMI’s willingness to break free from its old CD-based businesses, and a breath of fresh air. Merrill, who had formerly been Google’s CIO, cheerfully admitted that he had no background in the music business.
Remember when MTV used to mean music television? Those days are long gone, but music videos thrive on YouTube. And it shouldn’t be hard to turn that into a real business worth serious money–if the labels and Google can get their act together.
In 2007, Steve Jobs predicted that half the music offered at his iTunes store would be sold without digital rights management–the lock-and-key system that the music labels wrap their songs–by the end of that year. Better late than never: Apple finally has deals in place with three of the big music labels to sell DRM-free songs. In exchange, Jobs will give the labels some ability to introduce “flexible pricing,” a key demand for the industry.
Four days after MySpace cut the legs out from under Project Playlist by disabling the music streaming service’s app, Facebook is following suit.
Warner Music Group’s videos are disappearing from YouTube. The move is a result of a breakdown in negotiations between Google and the music label over a licensing deal that was set to expire soon. Who actually made the move to drop the label’s content from the world’s biggest video site is a matter of dispute, though. Both sides are taking credit for the decision.
Music videos on YouTube are money-makers for the music labels, and a money pit for Google. That may change next year: Even Google can’t afford to lose money every time someone watches an Avril Lavigne clip.
Why does EMI want to build its own music site? As a “learning lab” the company says. Lesson one: Finish building out the lab.
Last summer, iLike.com rolled out a new feature: Visitors to the upstart music site would be able to listen to entire songs from all the big music labels for free, via an arrangement with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, which already had a license deal with the big guys. But Sony and Warner Music Group have since pulled their songs from iLike.com, say people familiar with the situation. This has implications for those still considering building their own music service. Like, say, Facebook.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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