Record labels are now thinking of competing with YouTube, instead of just using it as a preferred channel. But will their efforts succeed?
Wired blogged about the plans for the four major labels to either move to a Hulu-based site, start a premium section on YouTube or perhaps even a standalone service, according to the Financial Times.

Warner Music threw a hissy fit, pulling videos earlier this month. The label wanted extra compensation for cover songs. Record companies certainly are trying to squeeze pennies where they can, it looks like.

Wired doesn’t believe that the labels would go the standalone route, after all MusicNet and Pressplay pretty much died off quickly. Hulu, on the other hand, just might be the next attempt to push videos. Wired doesn’t see the venture as an easy sell, especially as YouTube attracts more than music lovers and already has the name brand recognition globally.

For the labels, it’s all about ads. You’d think they would be able to work something out with YouTube about ad displays and revenue sharing, but from the record industry’s track record – the players keep insisting on too much money. It still hasn’t given up trying to get more money from iTunes, even trying to compete with their own music sites – an idea that will likely die off soon.

The danger of the record companies’ singlemindedness towards profit, without a proper understanding of harnessing the Internet, just might spell their dooms. As digital technology becomes cheaper, soon home studio and independent recordings just might become the norm. No more overpaid A&R executives, ridiculous large parties and less CDs filled with filler tracks instead of music? Perhaps it would be better to just sit back and watch the companies dig themselves into a hole, in the end leaving them with nothing to sustain themselves with besides huge artist catalogues.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 2:30 pm under Online video, YouTube.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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