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VEVO<\/a>, the music video portal that launched in conjunction with YouTube and a number of music labels in December of 2009, is bringing back the glory days of music videos. And, based on its meteoric rise to the top of the online music charts even after a shaky at best launch<\/a>, it\u2019s working.<\/p>\nIn December, VEVO had 35 million visitors<\/a> to its site, and 13 billion videos viewed<\/a> across all of its sites, mostly from YouTube (where VEVO has a branded channel), making it the largest music site on the Internet only a month after its launch.<\/p>\n It’s almost like we’re back to the good ol\u2019 days of MTV and the endless stream of music videos that adoring fans voted on and watched over and over.<\/p>\n The easiest way to understand VEVO is that is to music videos what Hulu<\/a> is to TV shows: a corporate (in this case record labels) founded, ad-supported way to aggregate and serve up videos on the Web. Instead of having to wade through all the user-made junk on YouTube to find the real, high-grade and high-quality music videos, VEVO\u2019s channel features only label or artist-produced videos, with great sound and video quality (though not HD yet).<\/p>\n Thanks to the good quality and selection of videos, VEVO is a great place not just to watch videos, but to create a personal jukebox or party playlist of music videos. VEVO makes that easy, allowing users to create, save, and share playlists up to 75 videos long. There\u2019s also my closet-singer\u2019s favorite feature: a lot of videos can be synced with lyrics, vastly improving your karaoke skills.<\/p>\n For most users, actually, the experience of watching music videos won\u2019t actually change much. Videos on YouTube will be VEVO-branded, and there will be links to the VEVO site and artist channels, but finding, watching, and commenting on videos on YouTube won\u2019t actually change much. It\u2019s a clever move for VEVO and YouTube, easing the transition and not forcing users to switch to something new and different.<\/p>\n VEVO is supported by a number of major record labels, with more joining all the time\u2014it appears labels are going to stop having their own channels on YouTube, instead using VEVO for distribution. VEVO sells all the ads for the videos, and while watching videos I\u2019ve seen everything from pre-roll ads to the next-to-video ads YouTube users are used to. Since the content is all so high-grade, VEVO can charge more for ads, meaning more money for labels, VEVO, and YouTube (who\u2019s hosting, and showing, nearly all the videos). VEVO\u2019s premium content deals are certainly one of the biggest steps yet to making YouTube profitable<\/a>.<\/p>\n VEVO\u2019s not really something I thought I\u2019d ever need, to be honest \u2013 and I know Anthony agreed with me<\/a>. Having used it for a while, though, it\u2019s useful to me for the same reason Hulu\u2019s my source for TV shows: I can probably find all the content elsewhere, but having it all in one place, in high quality, and in a way the companies support is pretty great. Instead of wading through all the slow-loading, crappy-looking and illegal options, VEVO and Hulu are well worth the few seconds of advertising you have to sit through.<\/p>\n VEVO’s success is proof there\u2019s a huge market for premium content still out there\u2014we\u2019re not all just looking for camera phone-shot videos on YouTube. It\u2019s also proving that the music industry can stay afloat, even while making its content free to users, if it does it in a smart and appealing way both for users and advertisers.<\/p>\n VEVO\u2019s not perfect, certainly: Since it only runs official videos, it isn\u2019t quite the \u201call your music in one place\u201d portal I wish it were. It\u2019s also not available everywhere yet (though through YouTube, most videos are widely available). But the Hulu\/VEVO model is proving successful and will likely extend to other industries in need of a lifeline. Hulu for newspapers<\/a>, anyone?<\/p>\n![\"vevoyou\"](\"http:\/\/www.stoth.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/89074_vevoyou.png\")
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