Warner, Universal and Sony are reportedly in talks for starting their own site for music videos. The war with YouTube continues, as Warner bailed on the enormous video site last week.
Universal on the other hand, makes tens of millions off of YouTube, and expects that number to go even higher in 2009. So is it a good plan to walk away from video sharing over license disagreements?
YouTube is rivaling Google itself as a search engine in it’s own right, proving the internet giant right to have kept it up and running in spite of monetizing issues. Google sites accounted for over half the total video search online in 2008, with YouTube comprising over 90% of searches done on Google related sites.
This makes many think Warner and Viacom’s stubbornness to play ball with Google is a mistake. However, music labels are the ones with the real beef – they claim that showing music videos is cheating them out of potential revenue.
As the drama continues to unfold, lines are drawn in the sand. There will soon be two camps – YouTube and Not YouTube. Which one comes out on top will be decided for the users. Apparently Warner likes Hulu’s platform, and expects it to make a good model for a music site.
In a side note, Universal has made their deal with YouTube as near as permanent as it can get – a ten year optional renewal is the closest thing you can get to a signed sealed and delivered deal. In the high speed world of the internet, ten years is practically ‘forever’!
Tags: Hulu, music videos, Warner