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Digital
Vevo remove content from YouTube API after Muziic incident
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 5 January 2010
Universal Music’s YouTube-powered music video service Vevo is stripping its content from the YouTube API after a clever net teen worked out how to use the interface to make content from the Vevo platform available via his own website without ads and without geographical constraints.
Vevo, which launched last month in the US of course, is Universal and Sony’s attempt to enter the video-on-demand market, convinced as they are that they can command higher ad revenues for their official music content than currently secured by services like YouTube, where official label content sits alongside videos ripped off MTV and user generated nonsense. Because it uses YouTube technology Vevo content is also available via the Google-owned video site in the US, but where it appears it does so with Vevo-sold advertising in tow.
But sixteen year old David Nelson from Iowa found a way of making Vevo content available via his own website Muziic without the Universal platform’s commercial messages, utilising the YouTube API. He also announced his Vevo-powered service would be available globally, and not just in the US and Canada where Vevo is currently operational.
Needless to say, Vevo bosses weren’t too impressed by this news, and they confirmed yesterday that their videos would no longer appear in the YouTube API so that Muziic could no longer tap into their content. Possibly wary of the litigation that could be coming his way, Nelson opted to stop borrowing Vevo branded content for his service, utilising, instead, other music videos in the YouTube catalogues.
Wishing to distance itself from the hoo haa, YouTube stressed it was just a technical enabler in all this, and that it was for users of its technology – ie content owners – to decide where and how their videos appeared. The company said in a statement: “Content owners on YouTube can choose where they want their videos to appear, including on mobile devices, IPTVs or even on YouTube.com itself. Our goal has always been to provide content owners with the tools they need to make informed decisions about where and how their videos are viewed”.
Elsewhere in Vevo news, they have appointed a new Marketing & Publicity Director, in the form of Jennifer Press, who joins the company from Sony-backed digital music company Dada Entertainment. She will report to Vevo GM Fred Santarpia.
