14 DAY TRIAL // All of a sudden online music videos are looking pretty interesting to a lot of people judging from the amount of attention they're getting lately. The latest move comes from Hulu, which has traditionally maintained a very focused library of TV shows and similar professional content, as the site has signed with Warner Music Group (WMG) to add videos from the music label to the line up. For now, only videos from British band Muse are available, but Hulu will add a couple more artists in early 2010. This comes after a similar deal with EMI.
"The agreement brings an artist-focused online video experience that features music videos, artist interviews, live concerts and rare behind the scenes footage from WMG's world-renowned artists and labels," WMG said in a statement.
"Warner Bros. recording artists Muse are the first artists featured under the agreement. Recently, Hulu launched an all Muse artist page that features the band's appearance on Saturday Night Live's December 19th holiday episode as well as content from Muse's sold out tour dates at Wembley Stadium, exclusive interviews and rare deep-catalog videos."
The emphasis at Hulu seems to be on the individual artists and on rarer material rather than the latest hot video. Of course, the site may not really have a choice in the matter as it's coming a bit too late to the party to make a serious move in the music video space. Powerhouse YouTube dominates when it comes to music videos as well, featuring content from all major labels, including a very customized section for Warner Music artists which get their own channels on the video site.
But the biggest threat is Vevo, the recently launched online music video joint venture which features content from three of the four music labels. Warner Music is the sole exception, though there are still talks between the parties apparently. The deal with Hulu is likely not going to alter its other plans too much and, even though no financial details were disclosed, Warner is not going to make too much money from the deal. In fact, it left Hulu to handle the advertising for its videos quite the opposite of the much larger deal it struck with YouTube.