music video

Canny video finder

Audials One is a smooth audio and video downloading tool that doesn't deliver as much as it advertises, but what it does provide performs well.

The program's interface is intuitive to operate, thanks to its sleek color scheme and organization, and looks like it was designed by a high-dollar programmer. We never needed the Help file since things felt so intuitive. Audials One essentially functions as a search engine that sucks up all free instances of music and video on the Web. Typing in an artist's name or song title showed each result and its source, which … Read more

Teen Muziic founder chastised by Vevo

The music industry's patience with Muziic and the site's teenage founder may have finally run out.

Rio Caraeff, chief executive of Vevo, the recently launched Web site that features music videos from three of the top four recording companies, wants 16-year-old David Nelson to stop using the service's content and trademark. Caraeff e-mailed Nelson on Tuesday asking him to comply.

Nelson is the precocious high school coder who launched a music service last March that enables users to treat YouTube music videos in much the same way that song files are handled at iTunes. The videos can … Read more

Warner Music, Hulu pen modest content deal

Hulu's foray into music videos took another small step on Tuesday, when it struck a deal to offer some video content from Warner Music Group, one of the four largest recording companies.

The partnership calls for Hulu to offer concert footage and music videos from a handful of Warner acts, including Jason Mraz, the rock band Paramore, and alternative group Muse. CNET reported seeing Muse's content at Hulu earlier Tuesday.

To be sure, even with the addition of Warner's acts, Hulu's music video library is modest, at best. In addition to Muse, Hulu cut a deal … Read more

Vevo CEO confirms it's all about business

Vevo CEO and President Rio Caraeff more or less confirmed on Wednesday my suspicion that the music service was not created to serve a new need for consumers. Rather, it was built to help advertisers and content owners (including labels, artists, and music publishers) capitalize on music videos, and to help Google (YouTube's owner) offload some of the cost associated with administering rights to them. In other words, this isn't a business-to-consumer play, it's more of a business-to-business arrangement.

As he put it: music videos are popular online, fans like them, and content owners think of them … Read more

Vevo--a music site we didn't need

Vevo, the new music-video site operated by Google (which owns YouTube) and co-owned by three of the four major labels (EMI, Sony, and Universal; Warner Bros. not participating), launched on Tuesday to some fanfare in New York. Big music celebs rubbed elbows with Google and label execs in the kind of self-congratulatory bash that only the entertainment industry can pull off.

Maybe that's too harsh, but I visited the site on Wednesday and I quite honestly can't figure out who or what it's for. It's got music videos, but only from three of the four majors … Read more

I want my Vevo: Will video site be next-gen MTV?

On August 1, 1981, a cultural and entertainment juggernaut flickered onto TV screens and rocketed out of obscurity with these six words: "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."

With that, the iconic cable network, MTV, was launched and a popular entertainment category--music videos--was born. Now, 28 years later, MTV has largely abandoned the genre and the record industry is preparing for the debut of a possible successor.

On Tuesday, video start-up Vevo is scheduled to launch. Supported by three of the top four largest record companies (sources say EMI has agreed to provide content to the site) and … Read more

Video site Vevo close to signing EMI

Executives of online music video service Vevo are close to finalizing an agreement that will bring content to the site from EMI, the smallest of the four top recording companies and the label of Coldplay, Katie Perry, and Norah Jones.

The deal between Vevo and EMI could be announced at any time, sources familiar with talks told CNET.

"EMI is in discussions with Vevo," EMI spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer acknowledged, though she declined to disclose the current stage of the talks.

Scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Vevo will soon be able to offer music videos and other content from … Read more

Hulu lands first music label deal

Hulu, the Web's No. 2 video service attracting viewers by offering full-length films and TV shows, now wants to become a video jukebox.

EMI Music, one of the four largest recording companies, struck a deal to offer its artists' select concert footage and music videos on Hulu.

Music videos have appeared at Hulu before but this is the site's first wide-ranging agreement with a major label, EMI said in a statement. Exclusive material from singer Norah Jones will help kick off the deal.

The partnership with EMI means Hulu, formed by News Corp. and NBC Universal, will compete … Read more

Blinkx attempts to crash the music video party

Video might've killed the radio star, but the Web sure hasn't killed music videos. Less than a week after News Corp.-owned social site MySpace announced its MySpace Music Videos portal, video search engine Blinkx announced the debut Tuesday of "Blinkx Music," a search tool specifically designed to trawl through music videos across the Web.

"There are hundreds of thousands of music videos available on the Web today which makes it nearly impossible to navigate and find what you are looking for," Blinkx founder and CEO Suranga Chandratillake explained in a release. "Based … Read more

Get a free DRM-removal utility (today only)

My good buddy (and self-described Cheapskate fan) James is looking over my shoulder today, so I need an outta-the-park deal. And here it is: a Tiffen 52mm UV Protection Glass Filter for $4.99 shipped!

No, no, I'm kidding. Today's deal is literally a today-only deal: Freebie-software site Giveaway of the Day is offering Drm-Removal, which promises to strip the DRM from audio and video files alike.

Specifically, the utility claims to remove all copy protection from AAC, WMA, WMV, iTunes AVI, and other commonly DRM-infested files. And based on some quick tests I ran, it works.

Of … Read more