Vevo Gives Into YouTube, Will Shut Down Site ⇥ rollingstone.com

Amy X Wang, Rolling Stone:

The company announced in a blog post Thursday that it is shuttering its mobile apps and website, and that “going forward, Vevo will remain focused on engaging the biggest audiences and pursuing growth opportunities.” It will continue investing in original content and sponsorships, but phase out its own independently-operated platforms, it said. Read: Vevo is almost entirely succumbing to YouTube, the juggernaut that has long supplied most of its audience.

I completely forgot that Vevo had its own hosting service. I even have their app on my Apple TV, but the only time I ever come across anything with their name on it is on YouTube.

The major record labels set up Vevo – an abbreviation for “video evolution” – in 2009 as a designated streaming service for music videos that would ideally bring in greater revenue from more high-end advertisers. Via a distribution deal with YouTube, it received a cut of revenue from putting its music videos on the Google-owned site.

But YouTube’s might has grown: The video-streaming service recently took Vevo’s branding off its music videos, while also securing permission under a new licensing deal to sell Vevo’s clips directly to advertisers, cutting out the smaller company’s sales force. Though Vevo has been trying to peel away from its dependence on YouTube by touting its own suite of apps and offerings for years, it seems those efforts haven’t been met with much success.

It sounds to me like YouTube muscled them out. That’s unsurprising — what other website do you think of when you want to watch short videos? They have a huge amount of influence, and Vevo has now given them even more power. I don’t see this ending well for Vevo as its own brand.