Universal, YouTube to Launch Music Video Site

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Universal Music Group and YouTube plan to launch an advertiser-supported online music site called Vevo in the next few months in an effort to capture more revenue from the Santa Monica music label’s content.

YouTube, part of Google Inc., will provide the technology for the service, which will host videos by artists signed with Universal Music, a Santa Monica subsidiary of Vivendi SA, the companies said late Thursday. Universal’s artists include U2, Beck, and the Rolling Stones.

The free-to-view package will carry ads preceding the music video. The two companies will share ad revenue on the Vevo.com site, on a Vevo channel on YouTube and on a customizable video player that can be placed on social-networking pages and other sites.

The deal will include access to Universal’s entire catalog of nearly 10,000 music videos. YouTube said it renewed a partnership that lets its users create and watch user-generated videos containing Universal recordings and compositions.

Record labels are seeking to boost revenue from online video sources as a way to make up for declining sales of compact-discs. In December, Warner Music Group Corp., which has significant Los Angeles operations, said it would remove videos and songs from YouTube after royalty negotiations failed. Warner and three other labels have their own streaming-audio service on the MySpace social networking site.

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