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Technology news and Jobs 
Fuzzy Logic Shock: YouTube not sued but signs deal instead
Fuzzy Logic Shock: YouTube not sued but signs deal instead | Shock: YouTube not sued but signs deal instead |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 01 June 2007 | |
      
As well known for collecting billion dollar lawsuits as being the world’s online video destination, and for having been bought by Google for a whopping US $1.65 billion dollars, YouTube has proven that it still has friends out there after announcing a new agreement with EMI Music. YouTube’s statement explains that YouTube users “now have unprecedented access to authorized videos and recordings from EMI Music artists, including those featured in user generated content” – although some artists, such as the Beatles, will be precluded from inclusion in the deal, as is still the case with iTunes. Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-founder of YouTube said that “With this deal, all four of the world’s major music companies are now official YouTube partners. EMI is a proven leader in the emerging digital music landscape and one of the world’s largest and most respected music companies. We’re excited to add EMI Music’s stellar roster of artists’ content to our site and make it available to our community.” Before Google’s purchase of YouTube, Warner, Sony and Universal took a small stake in YouTube as part of their similar licensing agreements. Whether EMI was able to partake of a similar arrangement was not disclosed. Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group, said: “Working with YouTube under this agreement meets EMI’s objectives to offer consumers the best possible entertainment experiences, to create new ways to connect our artists to fans and to enter into innovative business models that will generate revenues for our business and our creators. YouTube has quickly established itself as a stand-out fan favorite because it’s a site that taps into what people want and also consistently delivers a good experience. Through this agreement EMI Music and its artists will be fairly compensated for their work.” Artists such as David Bowie, Coldplay, Fatboy Slim, Norah Jones, Gorillaz, Lily Allen, The Decemberists, and ‘YouTube Video Award winners’ OK Go, known for their famous treadmill video ‘Here It Goes Again’ that achieved massive popularity last year and Sick Puppies, who scored a hit with their hugely popular ‘Free Hugs’ video. The videos are naturally professionally produced, and at are users disposal to insert parts thereof into their own user-generated content (mash up) that can only be uploaded, legally at any rate, to YouTube, solving the problem of users getting the content from other sources and using part of it in their own content with prior permission. Naturally, there is a revenue sharing component to the deal, with EMI working with YouTube (and naturally, YouTube’s owner, Google), to “monetize the content and compensate its artists”, presumably through target text and video advertising, although specific details of the advertising in mind or the financial agreement itself were not disclosed. They’re using YouTube’s content identificiation and reporting system, giving EMI complete visibility into the status and usage of their content across the YouTube network, alongside giving them the ability to “request the removal of EMI’s copyrighted content from YouTube” if they find something they don’t like. Google’s share price broke through the US $500 barrier for the first time in 5 months following the news, although closed just under the $500 mark at the close of trade, in a sign the stock market thought well of the deal, although remembering that Google is worth US $500 a share is certainly as eye-opening as any popular YouTube video. One thing’s for sure: when the inevitable stock market correction comes, the news reports will find themselves uploaded to YouTube, quite possibly mashed up with suitable elements from EMI, Sony BMG, Warner or Universal. In the meantime, YouTube users who’ve wanted to use EMI owned content can breathe a sigh of relief and hope that now only will YouTube resolves its other lawsuits, but continue growing further on the path to one day delivering ‘YouTube HD’ in high def!{moscomment} |
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