Vevo Set To Launch Tomorrow

Launches Tomorrow Night

One of the biggest music industry collaborations of recent years, an online music video service called VEVO will be unveiled either TOMORROW (12/8) night. The site will be introduced at an event in NEW YORK where MARIAH CAREY, RIHANNA and LADY GAGA are scheduled to attend. AT&T, McDONALDS and MASTERCARD have agreed to advertise, says VEVO, which is a partnership between UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, with EMI GROUP reportedly close to joining the NEW YORK-based venture as well, reports BUSINESSWEEK.COM.

The music business has been taken advantage of for years. This is our opportunity with Vevo to take back control of our product.

Also involved in the startup are GOOGLE's YOUTUBE and ABU DHABI MEDIA.

Launching with upwards of 15,000 videos, VEVO seeks to become the net's hub for videos of a premium quality "that enhance the music experience for fans," said VEVO CEO and former UMG executive RIO CARAEFF.

However, BUSINESSWEEK writes "history may be against VEVO. Industry collaborations are notoriously short-lived. Remember the subscription services PRESSPLAY and MUSICNET, both music company partnerships that fizzled in a few years? Other ballyhooed, industry-backed digital initiatives such as MP3.COM and JIMMY AND DOUG'S FARM CLUB similarly failed."

WARNER MUSIC GROUP has not joined the other major labels -- so far. BUSINESSWEEK points out that "CEO EDGAR BRONFMAN JR. believes VEVO's portal-like approach takes away from the only brands that matter in music -- the artists. That's why any video that WARNER syndicates to other websites drives fans to the artists' own sites. This makes business sense for WARNER because half its talent roster is now signed to so-called 360 deals in which WARNER owns a greater share of the artists' rights."

Doug Morris Wants To "Take Back Control"

BLOOMBERG NEWS reports UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP CEO DOUG MORRIS "is playing ad-man to lure marketers to the VEVO music-video website in the latest bid to rebuild the industry. MORRIS has split his time the last few months courting advertisers for VEVO, he said in a DECEMBER 2nd interview. "

The new venture will feature music videos, concert footage, interviews and original content, which "allows record labels to attract premium-prices for ads while controlling how music is viewed and distributed online, MORRIS said. "The music business has been taken advantage of for years. This is our opportunity with VEVO to take back control of our product."

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