YouTube's promise to become a repository for every music video ever made begins to officially take shape thanks to the announcement today of an advertising revenue sharing deal with Warner Music Group. The deal will allow music videos from all of the label group's artists — Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and T.I., just to name a few currents — plus associated content like interviews and behind-the scenes features to legally reside on the popular site. And, in great news for
schmucks people who like to upload videos of themselves dancing to their favorite songs, this deal will also cover the usage of WMG tracks in user-created content — thanks to an identification system that will be used to keep track of WMG content and manage appropriate royalties.
Read the YouTube/WMG press release. Additional details are at: Reuters UK, MSNBC/Financial Times, or the Associated Press.
This announcement comes on the heels of a speech by Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris in which he stated that YouTube and MySpace are "copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars... How we deal with them will be revealed shortly." [source: Reuters]
