Talking Tough with Google: Vevo Wants Better Deal for YouTube Channel

  • Doug Morris, Vevo founder and current chief exec of Sony Music Entertainment, says he will pull Vevo’s music videos from Google’s YouTube if he can’t get a better deal when their contract expires at the end of the year.
  • “That’s a serious threat given that Vevo — which features videos of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and about 11,000 other artists — is YouTube’s most popular channel, according to ComScore Inc. In May, Vevo’s videos generated 617.8 million views on the site, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
  • The article cites Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon as companies that would be interested in taking Vevo’s business from YouTube.
  • “YouTube has been good partners. They’re just extracting too much money for the enterprise to work properly,” explains Morris. “The videos are expensive to produce. And there are many mouths to feed on our end. You have to pay the artist, the record companies, the publishers.”
  • “For its major video contributors, YouTube keeps 30 to 50 percent of the net advertising revenue, after a 10 percent sales commission is paid,” notes the article. “Morris would not specify Vevo’s cut with YouTube.”
  • However, Morris is quick to point out what he believes drives viewers: “If Justin Bieber and Adele are somewhere else, that will be where people will go. If you don’t have the content, no one will come.”

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