THE AGE OF (DIS)CONTENT:
UMG, MTV IN $HOWDOWN
Sources say UMG is threatening to withhold the rights to its content unless a new deal can be worked out to share revenues on new terms it deems more favorable. Thus far, MTVN has taken the position that the company is not interested in sharing revenues generated on its multimedia platforms.
The current situation is reminiscent of UMG’s efforts to collect for the use of its music and videos during discussions with YouTube and Yahoo.
Insiders say that the Vevo experiment has made UMG hungry for those ad dollars being generated by its content, and that higher-ups at the company now believe these monies are in their immediate reach.
The news leads to a number of questions. How will MTV treat UMG content going forward? If an agreement can’t be reached, will the new-artist development in which MTV has played such a significant role then become unavailable to UMG artists? And how will such a situation impact MTV broadcast rights outside the U.S., where the network has an even bigger impact in the selling of prerecorded music?
