Irish startup site Muzu.tv has signed a licensing agreement with Universal, the largest music label in the world.
"We are MUZU," the official web site proclaims. "We like music. We like video. We are currently helping bands, artists and video producers maximise their visibility and profits by helping them share their music videos, documentaries, TV shows, interviews and behind the scenes footage with the world. This is our blog. Welcome."
Muzu users can watch music videos through the site, then embed their favorite content into MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking web sites. In addition, it's possible to make music video playlists that can be shared with other users, with support for TV shows, exclusive interviews, documentaries, and similar features.
The site also has licensing agreements with Sony BMG, EMI, the Ministry of Sound and Cooking Vinyl. Additional announcements are expected during the summer. Record labels appreciate Muzu since the company actively works to make sure a slice of all advertising revenue is shared with the musicians and record labels.
Universal and other recording studios have struggled to pull in revenue from YouTube and similar online video sites, as the sites receive a large amount of traffic, but not produce much revenue. It was recently announced that YouTube and Universal are developing Vevo, a new ad-supported music video site that will be publicly launched in the next several months.
I never used Muzu prior to reading about it today, but I am pleasantly surprised with the site and its features. Sure, it's still possible to visit YouTube for most of the content, but the ability to create custom "My Channel" playlists is something very interesting that I'll be sure to use in the future.
Although I haven't been very outspoken about how the record industry has handled its battle against peer-to-peer piracy, I'm all for the necessary parties getting royalties for played music videos.
