VEVO Update & Why The Rocky Start May Not Matter
Things are improving at new music video site VEVO, though some timeouts continue. The company reportedly added 25 servers overnight and is working to improve the user exper
But in the long run, the people running VEVO may not really care that fans are less than excited by the site's delivery. This time, it's not the suits at the major labels trying to control fans. VEVO, it turns out, was always intended to be a business-to business vehicle much more than a fan destination.
Vevo wants to serve as the exclusive online clearinghouse and distributor for "official" record label videos. They'll also handle ad sales and licensing and Google will provide hosting and streaming. So if a site wants to post a video from Vevo's catalog, Vevo is the only source. And what about all those creative mashups and viral sensations based on hit songs? VEVO wants to control and monetize those too.
Come to think of it, the suits are at it again…
I’m surprised that the lack of content on Vevo hasn’t really been mentioned.
Here’s the results you get when typing “Eric Clapton” into the search field:
http://www.vevo.com/search?q=eric+clapton
The content seems very weighted towards modern urban and pop music, back catalog is pretty thin. I tried about a dozen different artists and got nothing. This is obviously a major contrast to YouTube where there is tons of unreleased stuff.
Plus, they’ve got commercials on their home page listed as videos “AT&T’s Just Dance”?
Forget the bugs, no one is going to use this service unless the content gets a lot deeper, quickly.
Universal and Sony’s catalogs are very much weighted towards modern pop, but hey guess what, that’s what sells, not back catalog. You’ll see older stuff on there eventually.
Having worked for both companies mentioned, I can assure you that back catalog sells quite well, and in fact is the repertoire that keeps the lights on when a label is “cold”. If the repertoire isn’t on there it’s because they’ve either had trouble getting clearances, or they’re making a conscious decision about what type of audience they are trying to develop.
Yes, Old Record Guy is right; Universal and Sony have a few things in their catalogs!