Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) is at it again, working hard to monetize YouTube.
Yesterday saw the official launch of the Vevo music video player, where music publishers present the work of their artists in full HD glory and with some unique extras. Started in cooperation between Google and Sony (NYSE: SNE ) , allegedly after U2 singer Bono brought the two together for talks, Vevo holds videos from three of the four major studios at launch (and a host of smaller fry besides). After the public falling out between Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG ) and YouTube last year, I'm not surprised to see that brand missing from Vevo's roster.
So, why reinvent the wheel? YouTube already streamed plenty of music videos before this launch. And YouTube will continue to do so, except that official videos under the Vevo umbrella are presented under an attention-grabbing Vevo banner that hypes the service's features. You can find the same official video for “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters on both Vevo and YouTube, but with slightly different user interfaces and quirks, like Vevo's karaoke-ish lyrics display.
And of course, Vevo comes wrapped in its own advertising package. Tastefully short video ads from the likes of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) , Nikon, and AT&T (NYSE: T ) roll before some videos, and there are ad banners on pages of search results. YouTube offers "buy it now" links from some music videos to online music stores like Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN ) MP3, but Vevo seems to include Amazon links for every single video. This is a full-court marketing press, people.
Speaking at the Hollywood launch party, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that "Vevo will finally help the music industry make money selling music" instead of living off of concert tickets and merchandise sales. Google is said to be splitting the ad proceeds from Vevo half-and-half with the copyright holders, and that goes equally for Vevo-themed videos played on YouTube itself.
Some skeptics expect Vevo to fail quickly, but I'm not so sure. Having a consortium of music-industry businesses behind it alongside Google's technical expertise brings a legitimacy to the operation that few can match. And like I said, the branding extends to plain old YouTube too, which exposes the Vevo brand to millions of unsuspecting eyeballs.
Down the line, I wouldn't be surprised to see Warner Music ink a deal with Vevo (since it looks like the two have mended their ways), creating a one-stop shop for ad-supported music videos that even could put a thorn in the side of the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) iTunes juggernaut. Just let the brand-new site's growing pains of slowness and code errors subside before writing it off.
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