MediaFile

Vevo relaunches with closer Facebook ties

Vevo, the music video company, has relaunched the popular site with a more personalized, social, long-play viewing experience getting closer and further away from that MTV experience at the same time. One of the big changes is that you can now only get the full benefits of Vevo with a Facebook login in, which allows you to create a personalized Facebook playlist and share the videos you’ve watched with your friends on Facebook.

Vevo was the second most watched online video service in the U.S. in January with more than 51.5 million unique visitors watching an average of 62  minutes of video that month according to comScore. It is also YouTube’s number 1 partner.

A reminder that Vevo is owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group and the Abu Dhabi Media Company, It also features music videos from EMI and many independent labels but not Warner Music Group, the third largest label owner.

Vevo’s changes are going down similar routes as many other ambitious online services which believe they need to have a significant social presence to grow and keep users involved sharing detailed traffic data voluntarily and adding value for advertisers and other partners.

In some senses you could argue there are ‘no surprises’ from the MTV of the early 21st Century.

Here’s Vevo executive Michael Cerda talking through the changes on Vevo’s blog:

How much will Google TV cost?

Alexei Oreskovic

Oct 4, 2010 16:39 EDT

Almost five months after telling the world about its television aspirations, Internet search giant Google is providing more details on its forthcoming Google TV service.

The first devices featuring Google TV, from Sony and Logitech, will be available this month, Google said in a blog post on Monday.

Google also listed a variety of media and technology companies whose content and services will be available on Google TV, including HBO, Netflix, Twitter and music video website Vevo.

Google’s efforts to conquer the living room represent another front in its increasing rivalry with Apple, with the two tech companies also competing in smartphones, tablets and mobile advertising.

In September, Apple announced a new, overhauled version of its struggling Apple TV product, which will allow users to rent television shows for 99 cents a pop from News Corp’s Fox and Walt Disney Co’s ABC (It probably doesn’t hurt that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on Disney’s board of directors).

For its part, Google is pushing its partnership with HBO as one of its marquee premium content offerings.

The HBO service will allow existing HBO subscribers, who receive cable TV service from Comcast or Verizon, to watch up to 600 hours of HBO shows at their leisure. Of course, HBO already offered Verizon and Comcast customers the ability to do this on the Web – now those folks can also watch the latest episode of “Boardwalk Empire” or “Bored to Death” on Google TV.

Universal Music pulls videos off MTV website

Universal Music Group has pulled its music videos off of MTV’s websites  in a dispute over syndication rights for Universal’s co-owned music site Vevo.

With Universal Music’s previous online music video contract with MTV Networks ending on Aug 1, the music company had planned to use Vevo as the distribution platform for its music videos. But the problem for MTV is that would mean adverts around the videos would be sold by Vevo, not MTV,  something the music television business found difficult to agree to.

Vevo was launched in December by co-owners Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment as a dedicated online venue for premium quality music videos –  an MTV for the digital age if you like. It features music from EMI as well but Warner Music Group is yet to ink a deal.

Here’s what MTV thinks of Universal’s decision:

For almost 30 years, MTV has enjoyed long and colorful partnerships with all the music labels, including UMG and their talented roster of artists on MTV, VH1 and CMT. As the industry evolves, we continue to seek out new and innovative ways to connect artists with their fans that are beneficial to everyone. However, during our recent discussions with VEVO, we were unable to reach a fair and equitable agreement for rights to stream UMG artists’ video content. As a result, UMG has elected to pull their music videos from our web sites. We are disappointed by this move and sincerely hope that UMG will work with us toward a fair resolution and allow their artists to once again connect with the millions of music fans who visit MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com every day.

Here’s what Universal Music says:

“MTVN has been unwilling to negotiate a fair syndication deal with Vevo to carry our artists’ videos and consequently our videos will not be shown on their online properties. We believe that using Vevo as our online music video syndication platform is the best way to maximize revenue for our artists, our songwriters and ourselves, while bringing our videos to the widest possible audience. In less than 8 months since its launch, Vevo has already become the web’s #1 rated video network with over 49 million unique visitors monthly, dramatically eclipsing those on MTV’s online properties, while attracting scores of major advertisers and tens of millions in advertising dollars. As a result, our artists are enjoying tremendous exposure on Vevo on YouTube and Vevo.com, and will enjoy even more as Vevo continues to complete syndication deals supplementing the existing arrangements with leading destinations as AOL and CBS Interactive.”

Warner’s music comes to Hulu, still not on Vevo

Warner Music has just announced that it has signed up to offer music videos, live shows and interviews of its artists on the popular online video site Hulu.

This is interesting as Warner Music is the only one of the so-called big four major music companies that hasn’t signed up to put its music on Vevo, the premium music video site jointly owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Company. Vevo is built on the technology platform of YouTube. Warner and YouTube have recently fallen out then settled over licensing terms.

Ultimately, this is about business for Warner. As the only publicly traded music company, Warner Music Group seems keen to occasionally go a different route from its other major label rivals as its executives will argue they have shareholders to answer to.

But are people going to go to Hulu for music videos? That remains to be seen. Warner exec Michael Nash said in the press release that Hulu offers its artists a “customized and flexible approach to marketing and monetizing their music”.

Warner artists like Muse, Jason Mraz and Paramore will be among those to feature in the deal. The news comes after EMI signed up with Hulu in Nov. EMI also signed up put its artists videos on Vevo, though it is not an equity partner.

(Photo: Reuters)