Vevo may be closing a deal with the 3rd and last major label, Warner Music
Vevo, the world’s most popular dedicated music video site, are about to sign a deal with Warner Music after 7 years of ownership by Universal and Sony.
Vevo have dominated the music video industry, with ownership of the majority of music videos you’ll see on YouTube being Vevo owned. They’ve managed to lay claim to so many music videos as the company was set up in 2009 by two of three major labels Universal and Sony.
Now 7 years after Warner Music refused to join up with their industry competitors they are ready to sign their music videos up to Vevo. Vevo’s chief executive Erik Huggers has reportedly been trying for a year to sign Warner to Vevo and it seems to have finally paid off.
With Warner the majority of all popular music, past and present, will have their visual counterparts signed to VEVO. The deal will add music like that of Ed Sheeran, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay and many more to Vevo’s platform and, depending on the contract, will be signed to Vevo for 12 to 18 months.
A source close to the talks reportedly said to New York Post: “[Bagging Warner] creates a destination for all the videos from all the majors that doesn’t really exist [outside of YouTube]. In terms of trying it and seeing if it helps, it’s going to be a really interesting experiment.”
This giant move, bringing together all 3 of the world’s major label, comes as Vevo ready a subscription service that they hope will bring people to their own site and app rather than YouTube’s. It also comes as many in the industry are arguing that YouTube doesn’t fairly pay artists for their music streamed on the service.
YouTube are up against a massive wall if the labels decide to strike as the majors are now all united – at least for music videos. Universal, Sony, and Warner all want better deals from YouTube and with their massive influence over the music industry it’s safe to say that if anyone can persuade YouTube to change, it’s them.
Vevo didn’t comment on the deal with Warner.