New York, NY (December 22, 2008) - One company is caking to the tune of $100 million… the other just pulled all of it’s artists off the site, effectively losing them an equivalent sum.  SMH.  Just get the deal done Bronfman, the big company mentality is dead and fucking retarded.  You want a piece of the pie?  Fuck yo pockets and make some sense!!

…Warner Music, one of the first media companies to strike a licensing deal with YouTube, has demanded that the Google-owned site pull down all videos from its artists and songwriters, in a move affecting millions of pieces of professional and user-generated content.

“We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists’ content to the site,” a Warner spokesman said: “Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide.”

Warner has advised YouTube users that they could find alternative ways of incorporating music in their videos, steering them to Audioswap, a library of music for which rights have been pre-cleared.  They have kept their videos available on other online services, including MySpace Music and its own artists’ sites.  YouTube defended its licensing agreements and technology, saying they had created “a win-win situation” for artists and fans.

“Our ultimate goal is to treat everyone fairly: to respect the rights of musicians, songwriters, and their biggest fans, so that everyone can continue enjoying original content on YouTube,” it said.

On the other side of the coin, UMG just announced they’re seeing “tens of millions of dollars” from YouTube. A lot of the credit is being given to Doug Morris, Universal’s CEO, but seeing how clueless the man was only a year ago, I am struggling to believe he’s the driving force behind UMG’s sudden embrace of the digital world.  I suppose that’s immaterial because the deal got done, but don’t get it twisted; they’re going to push that 800lb gorilla bullshit as far as they can.  The record company mentality is just like big oil, stupid-ass Clinton era financial appointments (Fannie and Freddie) that have contributed to this recession and Ron Browz’ career, though: it won’t last.  The fact is this band-aid will supplement lost revenue from record sales until the backend collapses.  And when that happens, you’ll see a whole new business model in this industry.  I suspect it might even be a fair one:

…For the first time, there are signs that YouTube is driving significant revenue for itself and some of the video site’s partners. In an interview with CNET News this week, Rio Caraeff, executive vice president of Universal Music Group’s eLabs, said the largest of the top recording companies is bringing in “tens of millions of dollars” from YouTube.

“(YouTube) is not like radio, where it’s just promotional,” said Caraeff, who heads up Universal’s digital group. “It’s a revenue stream, a commercial business. It’s growing tremendously. It’s up almost 80 percent for us year-over-year in the U.S. in terms of our revenue from this category.”

Universal, the home of such acts as Akon, the Black Eyed Peas, and U2, has a two-part licensing deal with YouTube, as do the other major labels. Under the deal, the recording companies post music videos on the site and share advertising revenue with YouTube. The two companies also share ad revenue for music posted to the site by users.

“YouTube is the ideal place for labels to promote music and for fans to discover new artists and old favorites,” said Chris Maxcy, YouTube’s partner development director. “We’re committed to being a good partner to music labels and are pleased they’re having success on the site.”

New York, NY (December 12, 2008) - I’m not one to sift through videos all day long on YouTube, but I’m glad there are people that do.  Check out this piece from NY Times writer Brian Stelter about a few Internet celebrities who struck it rich jerkin off on-line.  Your mother warned you!

…One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.

Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show “is silly,” he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.

Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called “What the Buck?” for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was “only going to go so far on public access.”

Mr. Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube’s partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators. “We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses,” said Hunter Walk, a director of product management for the site, who called popular users like Mr. Buckley “unintentional media companies.”

YouTube declined to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos. But a spokesman, Aaron Zamost, said “hundreds of YouTube partners are making thousands of dollars a month.” At least a few are making a full-time living: Mr. Buckley said he was earning over $100,000 from YouTube advertisements.

By Adam Michael

New York, NY (November 5, 2008) - Wow.  MTV really pulled it off this time.  On Tuesday the newest addition to their digital dominance came in the form of the new website MTV Music which is a portal that basically lets you watch any music video you can think of.  There’s currently over 16,000 videos on the site’s database and new videos are being updated daily.

The actual site itself is very simple; you can search for videos using their search engine, leave comments and ratings for your favorites, or you can choose to embed the video almost anywhere.  The actual layout and ease of use of the site is surprisingly straightforward compared to the often convoluted music sites that cram a thousand widgets into a 12 by 12 square.  One of the nicer attributes is that it’s a completely separate property from any of MTV’s other electronic entities, so there’s no confusion or other content to complicate things.  Another impressive concept is that the site barely has any advertising; just slight banners at the top of the page instead of those annoying scroll ads found on other MTV pages that always throw everything out of whack.

MTV can pull off a project of this magnitude because of their almost three decade intimate relationship with the music industry.  MTV legally has access to an unbelievable variety of content, and launching a site just for music videos harkens back to the original product their company was founded on, which, lately, has had almost no monetary benefit versus their devilishly-branded warehouse of reality shows.  This website is the perfect outlet for MTV to start making money off of videos again after such a long lapse in programming.  Even MTV2’s original inception was supposed to be for just music videos after the original MTV got too crowded, but that venue just turned into a second home for popular MTV reruns.

What’s going to be interesting to see following the launch of this site is how it effects YouTube.  During its initial launch in 2006, YouTube said its goal was to host “every single music video ever created,” but a $1 billion dollar lawsuit from MTV’s corporate parent Viacom immediately quelled their announcement.  Even though that lawsuit hasn’t put much of a dent in the amount of music videos you can find on YouTube, it’s still legal gray area that in no way exists on MTV Music.  It just happened MTV had everything in place to set this site up with seemingly little to no effort; just translate their database to digital form, and they’re done.  YouTube will probably maintain its stance as the home to every video you’ve never conceived of, but MTV Music may become your new music video lounge chair.

New York, NY (September 19, 2008) – This is almost as good as the “I’m stylin on you” video. Actually, it’s on par, just with a slight twist. LOL at fisticuffs. Happy Friday.

If you enjoyed this, take a look over at UGHH.com and search for a dude known as Ebonics Translator.  The original lyrics are in bold, his translation in italics.  Below is an excerpt his incredible translation of Jim Jones’ hit, “Ballin.”  Peep:

Artist: Jim Jones
Song: We Fly High

I wear a mean dark pair of shades
Aint you cant see my eyes unless my head is bent , you dig

I believe in displaying a fashionable pair of designer sun glasses, and you will discover that it is quite difficult to observe my eyes, unless my cranium is tilted at a 45 degree angle. Is there any misunderstanding?

[Chorus]
We fly high, No Lie ,You know this (BALLIN!)
Foreign rides, outside, its like showbiz (We in the building)
(Girl)
We stay fly, No Lie ,You know this (BALLIN!)
Hips and Thighs, Oh my, Stay focus

We have in our possession fantastic amounts of liquefied assets. We would not deceive you. You are in concurrence with this fact. (WE ARE VERY WEALTHY!) We own motor vehicles imported from various foreign countries. Currently, they are located outside our dwelling; observe how we mimic “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” (ACKNOWLEDGE OUR PRESSENCE!)
(FEMALE HUMAN)
We have in our possession fantastic amounts of liquefied assets. We would not deceive you. You are in concurrence with this fact. (WE ARE VERY WEALTHY!) I am sexually stimulated by fatty tissues surrounding your pelvic region and the quadricep muscles supporting your femur bones. Oh, dear, I must not deviate from my train of thoughts.

Ya boy gettin paper (Money), I buy big cars (Foreign)
I need fly rides to drive in my garage (Choose 1)
Stay sky high (Twisted), Fly wit the stars (Twinkle ,Twinkle)
T 4 ? Flights , 80 grand large (BALLIN!)

I, your close friend and associate, am in the process of acquiring liquidated assets. (MONETARY TENDER) I purchase imported foreign motor vehicles. (FOREIGN) I am genetically predisposed with an innate yearning to operate motor vehicles and guide them into their designated housing facility. (A SINGLE SELECTION) I maintain fantastic amounts of wealth. (IT IS UTTERLY LAVISH AND OUTLANDISH) I flaunt my splendor and prosperity with A-list actors and actresses. (THE GLAMOR AND GLITZ) I also have in my possession, airplanes worth $80,000 dollars. (WE ARE VERY WEALTHY!)