Universal’s Music Portal

Universal Music Group is looking to launch their own music video portal. This portal would be similar to NBC’s Hulu, where you can watch ad-supported tv shows on demand.

Currently, Universal has licensed out their catalog to a number of websites for use, but does not have a site of their own. For instance, Universal’s videos on YouTube have had enormous success, having been viewed over 2.6 billion times. Universal is obviously looking to keep some of that ad revenue for themselves instead of have other websites reap the majority of the benefits.

The main question is if people will come. Oh how important it is to be one of the first movers (See Amazon, YouTube, and iTunes). Universal’s current licensing agreement with YouTube will expire at the end of this year. It will be noteworthy whether or not Universal continues the agreement. If not, then a Universal music video portal could be the main place to go to see the content.

Universal also plans to have unique artist information and editorials. If they can launch unique material and be the first site to do so, they have the potential, even this late in the game, to make their mark.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com