Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Sony Music Group

Apple Signs Sony, EMI, and Warner For Cloud Music Service

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:52:41 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has signed EMI, Warner Music, and Sony for their cloud music service. The only major music label left to sign is Universal Music Group. Universal is believed to be signing very soon. Both Amazon.com and Google launched cloud music services without support from any of the major music labels. The Apple iCloud service is believed to launch at the WWDC on June 6th. [TUAW]

Sony Hints At Withdrawing Artists From iTunes

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:47:17 +0000

Sony Corporation is hinting at withdrawing Sony Music artists from Apple iTunes. Sony is also considering withholding their games from the Apple App Store. Sony is planning to launch a music streaming service of their own soon. And they are launching an application store for their upcoming Sony PlayStation phone.

Two weeks ago Apple blocked Sony’s e-book application from the Apple App Store because it competes with Apple’s e-book application. The new Sony music service launched in Europe last year and it will have 6 million tracks. Users will be able to stream the tracks on Sony TVs, PlayStation 3 consoles, PSP portable game players, and Blu-Ray players.

“If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?” said Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Michael Ephraim. “Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that’s the format right now.”

50 Cent Bashing TVs With A Baseball Bat As A Promo For Vevo [Video]

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:43:12 +0000

Vevo is geared to launch tomorrow. As many of you know Vevo is going to be the Hulu of music videos. This means that those of you that are sick of MTV playing more reality shows than music videos these days will finally be able to get your fill of music videos again in one central place. Sony, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music have all agreed to place music video clips on Vevo too. YouTube technology will be used to power the video streaming. In order to promote the new service, Vevo has given 50 Cent a baseball bat to bash up some TVs playing his music video. Just in case you don’t get the metaphor in the video, Vevo wants you to stop watching music videos on TV and come to their website instead.

Vevo Launching On December 8

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:13:55 +0000

Vevo is an upcoming music video website that will be similar to Hulu. Rio Caraeff is the head of Vevo and the company is rumored to have raised $300 million. The company expects to stream about 450 million videos per month. The company will be ran by about 45 people initially.

Vevo is co-owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Abu Dhabi Media. Vevo will be powered by YouTube’s technology and they will be sharing ad revenue with each other. Vevo will be launching officially on December 8.

Music Video Website Vevo Seeking Funding At $300 Million Valuation

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:01:57 +0000

Vevo is a music video website that is a joint venture between Universal Music, Sony Music and YouTube. According to sources with paidContent, the company is out seeking funding based on a $300 milion valuation. Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff has been travelling across the country to meet with potential investors in order to get the project off the ground.

Vevo will be based on of New York City and Los Angeles. The company has been hiring engineers over the last several months. As of right now, it is unclear whether EMI and Warner will join the venture. As for Warner Music, CEO Edgar Bronfman has spoken against the idea publicly.

I would not be surprised if other labels jump on the opportunity to work with Vevo in the near future. Hulu has proven to the world that web video could replace television just like it could do with music television. Vevo can be followed on Twitter.com/Vevo.

YouTube and Universal Music Confirm Vevo Music Video Website

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:47:41 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary YouTube and Universal Music Group are planning to launch a music video website together in order to increase both of their revenues. The Universal Music channel on YouTube is already one of the most subscribed to on the video website. The combined website will be called Vevo.

This deal is a major boost for YouTube because the video website is getting pressured to find additional revenue streams and is taking a lot of flack for not being able to pay fees for the rights to use their music and music videos.

Vevo will be wholly owned by Universal and it will feature higher quality videos than what is seen on YouTube itself. “The rationale is to help make Vevo a place that brands feel more comfortable,” stated Rio Caraeff, EVP of Universal’s eLabs division.

Universal hopes that Vevo will be comparable to Hulu. Vevo will syndicate videos through their platform called Vevo Music Network. Universal is planning to partner with EMI and Sony Music Group who have already renewed their contracts with YouTube. Partnering with Warner Music Group will be slightly more challenging because they have not been able to make a deal with YouTube in the past.