Vevo (stylized as
VEVO) is a
joint venture music video website operated by
Sony Music Entertainment,
Universal Music Group, and
Abu Dhabi Media[3] with
EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake.
[4] The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009.
[5] The videos on Vevo are syndicated across the web,
[6] with
Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.
[7]
Vevo offers music videos from three of the "big four" major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and EMI.
[8] Warner Music Group was initially reported to be considering hosting its content on Vevo,
[9] but subsequently formed a rival alliance with
MTV Networks.
[10] There are more than 50,000 videos available on Vevo.
[11]
The concept for Vevo was described as being a
Hulu for music videos,
[7] with the goal being to attract more high-end advertisers.
[12] To this end, Vevo censors the content of some of its videos for language, to make them more acceptable to advertising partners such as
McDonald's.
[13] The site's other revenue sources include a merchandise store
[14] and referral links to purchase viewed songs on
Amazon MP3 and
iTunes.
[15] Universal acquired the domain name vevo.com on 20 November 2008.
Sony Music Entertainment reached a deal to add its content to the site in June 2009.
[16] The site went live on December 8, 2009, and that same month became the number one most visited music site in the US,
[17] overtaking
MySpace Music.
[18]