YouTube & Warner Music Group Are Back Together

Youtube and Warner Music Group have come to an agreement today, announcing a new content licensing deal that will bring the label's content back to popular video streaming service after a nine-month absence.

The one distinct difference of the new deal is that Warner will now be the one selling advertising around its videos rather than YouTube. The label can decide the price for those advertisements and keep the majority of the ad revenues that result.

"Members of the YouTube community will not only be able to access videos and other music-related content from Warner Music Group recording artists and songwriters, but will also gain access to an enhanced user experience on YouTube with a feature-rich, high-quality premium player and enhanced channels," read a statement sent by Warner as the deal was announced.

Sources say Warner wants to include more commerce and social networking capabilities to a premium video player YouTube is creating for the label. This could include direct links to the artist Web sites, buy links and chat capabilities in addition to the premium ad space and other details.

YouTube users will be able to include Warner music in the videos they submit as well around which the label can also sell ads if it chooses.

Warner pulled its music from YouTube last December. The label was the first to license its music to YouTube when the service first started negotiating with the music industry back in 2006. When it was time to renegotiate that deal, Warner wanted more money than YouTube was willing to pay, leading to the decision to withhold content from the service.

Given YouTube's sheer dominance of the online video space it was critical for Warner to make this move. According to ComScore, YouTube generated 10 billion streams in August from U.S. users alone. That is about 40% of the online video market!

It will take the remainder of the year to complete before all Warner music videos are back on YouTube. That is including the premium video player and ad platform being created as well.

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