Yahoo Hot on Google’s Heels…

The good side of it all is that Yahoo! finally realized the importance and popularity of computer-user created videos, which often include copyrighted content. The downside is that it did that one year after Google and that it is still trailing in almost every domain the Mountain View based whale.

Today is the day that Sony BMG and Yahoo have inked a licensing deal that clears the way for regular users to upload files with music or video content by the record company’s artists to Yahoo!. As usual, financial terms were not disclosed but it is believed that Sony BMG will be receiving a good cut of the advertising revenue.

The copyright related stipulations are not the only ones in the deal, distribution of music videos via Yahoo player applications and widgets were also covered in the first agreement that Yahoo has ever signed with a major recording company over licensing content in the context given above.

Sony BMG arrays a number of high profile stars such as Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, Slayer, Carlos Santana (who is featured on the main web page, by the way), Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Dido, Bob Dylan, Chris Brown and Avril Lavigne to name just a few. This deal is the second signed by the record company, after that of last year when it reached a similar licensing agreement with Google and its video sharing service, YouTube.

Yahoo! News reports that "Last month, a coalition of major media and Internet companies issued a set of guidelines requiring Web portals that host user-generated videos — as Yahoo does — to use filtering technology to block clips with unauthorized content from being posted," as well as the fact that "independently, Yahoo is deploying video identification and filtering technology early next year."

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