Ad Age Thinks MTV Should Buy Vevo, But Is It Selling?

There's an interesting story over at Advertising Age that argues that MTV should buy Vevo, a Universal Music Group, Sony and EMI venture that has quickly become one of the largest streamers - and advertisers - of music videos. Writer Mike Henry says that MTV, owned by media giant Viacom, should write a big check to the labels and recapture its ability to "influence youth culture."

But such a deal seems pretty unlikely. Vevo is essentially an effort from the major labels to regain control over   the streaming market, and it's one of the few bright spots in an incredibly bleak industry. So it's hard to imagine that the majors would want to cede control of such a valuable platform with actual growth potential. In August, Universal pulled its videos from MTV's sites (but not television channels), after the two companies couldn't come together on advertising terms, a move that was only possible with the existence of Vevo.

With such a vibrant environment for independent music, sometimes it's easy to forget that pop music still dominates eyeballs. Music videos from independent artists usually (thankfully) don't have ads, but indie labels might also have to consider monetizing videos, as they look for additional revenue streams. While they don't have the advantages of such massive scale, every penny helps.

Until then, we can enjoy videos like this, ad-free.