In the early 1980's the major record labels made a decision to basically allow MTV completely free access to their music videos. However, now Universal see the increasing number of Satellite companies and Internet music companies as a new form of an on-demand medium and are determined to make sure the labels profit from it. Software giant Microsoft has already agreed to pay Universal to use their music videos. "The digital music and video market is still in its infancy, and the business models are continuing to evolve," Rob Bennett, senior director of MSN Entertainment, said in a statement. "As an industry we are all figuring this out together, and it's our job at MSN Music to provide a great platform to bring content owners together with consumers."
Music services have already received notifications of this new policy. The policy will also cover live performances of Universal artists. Of course, Universal had to think of a way to force companies to adapt to this new policy, and they did, they will refuse to buy any advertising on any site that doesn't make a deal under the new policy. The record companies have been taking advantage of the massive amount of promotion on-demand video services are giving them. AOL music says it gets about 4 million viewers per week and versions of videos shown on Time Warner Cable's were watched about 8 million times monthly.
Source:
News.com
Written by: James Delahunty @ 3 Feb 2005 20:44
