After leaving YouTube, Warner Music in the US – whose content is now banned from YouTube after failed licensing negotiations – seems to be looking around with other major labels for a site to host its content with a Hulu-like feel. Warner has been quietly talking with Sony, EMI and Universal about launching a music video site all of their own.
YouTube put restrictions on the labels, including how much they can make from videos. YouTube has seen a little money coming back from advertisers, but not what the labels or anyone else was really hoping for. Most estimates put Warner’s previous monthly revenue from the site at around $25,000.
Perhaps the most promising thing about a site that is run by the labels and not through another party is its distribution ability. It would be in a better position to make its services international, streamlining international rights negotiations, so the labels will have no reason to hold off on making content available. Hulu, perhaps the most talked-about video site of late, doesn’t work outside the US. There are some aggregators currently, MTV and MySpace being the biggest two, but these still have regional restrictions and limitations, and any revenue made on pages with the label’s videos will have to be shared with these aggregators.
The labels have been the last to jump on the digital bandwagon, and building a site like this can only make us wonder why it hasn’t come about sooner. Ceding the market to sites like YouTube and MySpace and services like Apple’s iTunes and Amazon MP3 have put the labels in an awkward position of not making all the money they could on their own products. This is content that people all over the world want and in great numbers, so the labels need to get on the ball with a site like this and make sure it has a mobile and download backing.