Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) has told Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to take it videos off of YouTube. It does not think that having them there creates enough revenue for the music company.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "Warner, like the three other major-label groups, licensed its recording and music-publishing catalogs to YouTube shortly before the site's acquisition by Google Inc. in 2006." Obviously, the revenue-share of the advertising dollars from marketing messages that Google sells next to the Warner content is remarkably poor.
Google has been hoping to show that it can make money from the largest video site in the world. Based on company comments and its earning releases, the effort is yielding no success. That makes the search company's acquisition of YouTube look like a bust. Because Google is such a huge earnings machine, it hardly matters.
Not so for Warner, which is dying fairly fast as music moves from CDs to digital delivery though channels like the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod and music download and streaming websites. The stock market is voting that Warner's efforts won't work. The company's shares trade at $3, down from $23 less than two years ago.
If outlets like YouTube don't yield substantial revenue for Warner, the company is toast.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-21-2008 @ 8:39AM
Mark Montgomery said...
The music industry is a dinosaur that has been dying a tortured death since about 1999 when people suddenly realized that ALL music is free and that only fools pay for downloads. The artists will survive by performing live concerts but companies like Warner Brothers will slip into the dark waters history. Long live free music. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com
12-21-2008 @ 1:13PM
Mario said...
I'm sorry for that!!!
However I think it's their loss and their artists'
I wouldn't want to be under a contract with them
It goes to show how much they don't get the new model
Poor Warner Music, going the way of the dinosaur.
See you Warner!!! Or maybe not...
Mario
12-21-2008 @ 1:31PM
Beltway Greg said...
Wikipedia Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Need we comment further?
Beltway Greg
12-21-2008 @ 3:28PM
blogs11111 said...
Isn't much of Google's earnings based on advertising revenue? So why wouldn't it matter if it's advertising isn't effective? In recessions/depressions, don't companies cut way back on advertising anyway and if they find out it's not effective wouldn't they cut back faster and further?
1-11-2009 @ 11:57AM
Marvin Swain said...
Warner Music (WMG) -- that is really ashame to you are making youtube pull of music that we your customer listens too. The Winans -- Return Album 1990 -- The song "Together We Stand" was pulled. That is one of my all time favorite gospel songs and now I can't find it out on any site not even GodTube. So my question is (WMG) are you going to have a website like youtube that we can go and pull our favorite music that your Company owns?
If not -- that would really be ashame. Especially on some of the old school songs that you cannot buy anymore. Do the right thing and listen to the people who buy your Music -- hint: The Customer.
Thanks!
2-04-2009 @ 3:09AM
SportsDad said...
I'm father of some kids playing high school sports. I make videos of my kids' teams and post some of them on YouTube. I have used music in the videos which I have legally purchased either by buying the CD or by downloading through iTunes. I paid for everything. But YouTube removed the audio from some of my videos and left the message that the audio was not authorized by WMG. I hope this is a YouTube screw up. Is WMG really wanting to stop people like me from using their music in videos of our kids'?
2-05-2009 @ 12:17PM
diamondberyllium said...
Warner will pull a vid with anybody singing "happy birthday to you" on it! Bankrupt Warner Music Group! Warner's stock is at $2 a share.. it won't take much to bankrupt them. encourage millions of viewers to set up accounts with Youtube devoted solely to uploading warner videos. Every time they get taken down, upload more warner videos. That will also leave thousands of videos without audio with the message that they have been *silenced by WMG*..bad publicity for WMG. warner will go bankrupt with overtime trolling. Everybody should swamp WMG with their complaints! use www.faxzero.com to send free faxes.
Warners fax is 212-275-3985.
Warner's phone: 212-275-2000.
Google/youtube fax: 650-253-0001. Google/youtube: Phone: 650-253-0000
2-07-2009 @ 6:48PM
Kaizer Soze said...
WMG is definitely the loser here and the sooner they die the better. They just took down one of my YouTube videos because they said it violated their copyright. The artist I used has never been under contract with any Warner company, just SST. Perhaps they put it out on a compilation through Rhino or something? I think I'll make a pizza and when I'm done, I think I might start a couple of dozen torrents with WMG artists. Or I might not?
2-08-2009 @ 4:22AM
snoop1015 said...
WMG became a bunch of whinning b-tchs like lars. F-ckn p-ssy's. f-ck u and all that u stand for. go get ur spears and peeps that u can own. I would rather die then to be associated and or told what to do by you. With a capitol P P-SSY's. Your mom's would b-tch slap u for your p-ssy performance. And i'm sure because u have money ur gonna say some shit. but like i said, i would rather die than live ur f-ckn life. So f-Ck U!!!!!!!!!!!
2-10-2009 @ 2:58PM
fmn007 said...
Yes, I agree...I own the song 'We are family', I feel since I bought it on record and cd...and the song is older than the hills...haven't they made their money from me and since I bought the song, I don't understand why I can't make a home video with that song and upload it. I just had one of my videos removed too, which had that song on it. I think if a song it more than a few years old, it should become public owned after selling so many copies of the song. Pretty much pissed about it because My Space also wouldn't let me upload the video and had to take a stupid copyright test to have my upload priviledges reinstated. Lame WMG...I can understand this for new music but come on...the old stuff shouldn't matter.
Just my take...
2-15-2009 @ 12:56PM
bikermo said...
this is like saying you can't listen to a cd in your car because someone who doesn't own it or have permission from WMG may overhear it, and WMG wouldn't get any royalties from that.
myspace will remove playlists created through playlist.com for this same reason. apparently a band on my friends list complained specifically. hmmm, could it be hypocrittica? so i deleted them and now i change the channel whenever their music comes on. quite a shame because they used to be my favorite band.
2-17-2009 @ 10:12PM
Pamela Parrish said...
I think that WMG should die a horrible death.. We DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY from the videos that we put together. I see why Prince was a slave to these assholes years ago. George Harrison was also screwed over by them when he submitted his "Somewhere in England" 1981 LP and they wanted him to drop 4 songs and make a new cover for the LP as they felt that his songs wern't good enough for the current market at that time. He wrote "Blood From a Clone" From that shitty experience with them.. When his contract was up, he never resigned with these guys..
Now I can't go to you Tube to hear
Andrew gold, the monkees, and even the Bee Gees.. F YOU you greedy pigs... We can't even sing Winter Wonderland or Happy Birthday?!?!?!?! I hope you all die pennyless... I love my music but with you holding them hostage, no one will buy your shit.. I have far better things to do with my money...
2-23-2009 @ 4:48AM
Cal Jennings said...
Warner is being extremely foolish. Silencing copyrighted speeches because there is music playing in the background it beyond ridiculous. Are they going to try to silence people who hum a tune in public, too? Did you ever see "Yellow Submarine?" Warner is the embodiment of the "Blue Meanies."
3-08-2009 @ 3:17AM
William said...
Those losers at WMG are on the wrong side of the issue. Instead of using innovation to take advantage of the popularity of a lot of their music, they just take their ball home and sulk that no-one wants to play by thier old out dated rules. They are now playing defence against the flow of history and technology. They must be smoking crack if they think they can suceed at doing that for long. Unless they think outside the box I'm almost certain that they'll be bought out by a company that does have the vision not to pull Kermit's "Rainbow connection" from youtube, or alienating the hard core of those who most likely to have actually spent "real money" on thier stuff. Heck, Instead of shutting people down on the net and hoping that you can coral most of everyone else them into buying CD's (A paraniod strategy doomed to fail as people become more and more tech savy about peer to peer file sharing) They could do what a lot of freeware software publishers do now and ask for donations from those who download. Heck force all Internet distributers to include a paypal donations link as a condition of distribution. I'm sure that this would give them an immediate boost to revenue from an area from which they receive no direct revenue whatsoever and it maintains the good will of all those involved. In fact they would be suprised at how good natured people are when they feel like they are not being ass f**ked for bucks. Of course those pointy headed corporate types fundemently distrust anything they cannot completly control (they don't trust because they themselves are untrustworthy) and that is why they don't have the imagination nor the vision to work in a more equal partnership with the community. We are just sheep to them and they treat us as such.
3-22-2009 @ 2:51PM
VideoEscaper said...
I hope WMG crumbles. They make bad business decisions; especially, after removing people's videos of YouTube claiming copyright infringement
3-20-2009 @ 7:50AM
Dr. M. L. Peterson said...
Users of You Tube are the core market for music sales. They are the people that care enough for music as to take the time out of their lives to actually seek out a song, (and to buy it). As opposed to people who simply flip though their radio dials on their way to and from work. WMG
as totally alienated this core market. The ground-swell at You Tube against them is truly tremendous. People from all demographics are posting hate blogs against WMG. From small kids, (future music buyers) whose happy birthday videos were yanked, to aged baby boomers who have bought countless millions of WMG products over the years. With WMG shares tanking, (as of the time of this post). Their future seems uncertain at best. the recording industry is taking the path of the railroads, with WMG leading the way. Losing out to cheaper, faster modes.