Vevo

Type	Limited liability company
Foundation date	United States and Canada (December 8, 2009 (2009-12-08))
Headquarters	New York City, New York, U.S.
No. of locations	7
Area served	United States (December 8, 2009 Canada (December 8, 2009) United Kingdom (April 26, 2011) Ireland (April 26, 2011) Brazil (April 14, 2012) Australia (April 16, 2012) New Zealand (April 16, 2012) South Africa (October 15, 2012) France (November 15, 2012) Spain (November 15, 2012) Italy (November 15, 2012) The Netherlands (April 3, 2013) Poland (May 17, 2013)
Key people	Rio Caraeff (CEO)
Industry	Multimedia, music
Services	Music management
Net income	US$150 million (2011)[1]
Owner	Universal Music Group Sony Music Entertainment Abu Dhabi Media Company E1 Entertainment
Slogan(s)	See Music Play/Music Evolution Revolution!
Website	Vevo.com
Alexa rank	1,790 (April 2013[update])[2]
Type of site	Video hosting service
Launched	December 8, 2009
Current status	Active

Vevo (stylized 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]

Development [edit]

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]

Availability [edit]

The vevo.com website is currently available only in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France,^[19] Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Brazil. The website was scheduled to go worldwide in 2010,^[20] but as of 1 January 2013 (2013-01-01)^[update] it was still not available outside these countries.^[21] Vevo's official blog cited licensing issues for the delay in the worldwide rollout.^[22] Most of Vevo's videos on YouTube are viewable by users in other countries, while others will produce the message "The uploader has not made this video available in your country."^[23] The Vevo service in the United Kingdom and Ireland was launched on April 26, 2011.^[24] On 16 April 2012, Vevo was launched in Australia and New Zealand by MCM Entertainment. On August 14, 2012, Brazil became the first Latin American country to have the service. It is expected to be launched in six more European and Latin American countries in 2012.^[25] Vevo launched in South Africa in October 2012, becoming the first country in Africa to have the service.^[26] Vevo launched in Spain, Italy, and France on November 15, 2012.^[27] VEVO launched in The Netherlands on April 3, 2013 ^[28] and on May 17, 2013 also in Poland ^[29].

Vevo is also available for a range of platforms including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Google TV, Boxee, Roku and the Xbox 360.^[30][31]

Vevo TV [edit]

On March 12, 2013, Vevo launched Vevo TV, an advertising-supported internet television channel running 24 hours a day, featuring blocks of music videos and specials. The channel is currently available only in the United States and Canada, with other countries to follow.^[32]

Policy on videos with explicit content [edit]

Vevo's former logo, used from December 2009 to March 2013

Versions of videos on Vevo with explicit content such as profanity may be edited. A company spokesperson stated: "Our censorship goal for launch was to keep everything clean for broadcast, 'the MTV version.'"^[33] This allows Vevo to make their network more friendly to advertising partners such as McDonald's.^[33] Vevo has stated that it does not have specific policies or a list of words that are forbidden. Some videos are provided with an explicit version in addition to the censored version. There is no formal rating system in place, aside from classifying videos as explicit or non-explicit, but discussions are taking place to create a rating system that allows users and advertisers to choose the level of profanity they are willing to accept.^[33]

Vevo Certified songs [edit]

Music videos that have reached at least 100 million views on YouTube are 'honored' with the mark of being Vevo Certified.

The most Vevo Certified artists are, so far, Rihanna (12), Justin Bieber (11), Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Black Eyed Peas (7), One Direction and David Guetta (6), Beyoncé, Shakira, and Taylor Swift (5) .^{[35] [36]}

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website