I have attempted to restrain myself from mentioning or talking about Vevo, albeit jokingly wishing you a Happy Vevo Eve the night before the big launch. That’s not necessarily because I had nothing to say – I am actually filled to the brim with thoughts – but rather because I wanted to give Vevo a chance.
Because I thought Vevo would suck.
Just like I thought with Hulu when it launched.
It’s too easy to be critical of things – criticisms are easy to write and fun to read. What is hard is being that one blogger who correctly believed Hulu would be a hit before any of us were even willing to acknowledge that possibility.
So, whenever I attempt to talk about Vevo, I am reminded of my false criticism of Hulu which then causes me to shy away from criticizing it. I thought joint ventures don’t work – Hulu proved me wrong. Not only did Fox and NBC work terrifically together, they also later added ABC to the team. I thought people would perceive Hulu as just another paltry selection of legal video – Hulu proved me wrong. Not only is the selection anything but paltry, Hulu has also managed to balloon up into the second most popular video site, only behind the behemoth of a video site that’s called YouTube. Moreover, according to some rumors, Hulu might even be making more money than YouTube.
You can see why I would shy away from dismissing Vevo. I have been at that stage with Hulu and my criticisms clearly came back to bite me. And if Vevo’s being touted as the “Hulu For Music”, perhaps it’s destined to go down that same path, right?
And here lies my basic problem with Vevo. It’s not the “Hulu For Music” or even close to that. Clearly, they are trying to ride some sort of momentum by calling it that but the service falls short.
That’s nothing against the service – it’s just the truth. When Hulu came out, you literally couldn’t find any legal professional video content online. Your only alternative was torrenting and Hulu owes a great part of its success to that simple fact. With Vevo, you have so many other online alternatives.
But that’s a difference that should be very strongly noted. Minus a few added features, what does Vevo really bring to the table that we haven’t seen before?
I can’t think of anything.
I realize that this does help several companies. With the music companies, they’re desperately trying to make money online and this is a nice foray into that. As for Google, and this is much more interesting, it shows a shift in their thinking. Google helped build the service, acquired a minority stake in it, and then took a back seat. That’s important. It showed that Google can be invested in the success of others and doesn’t have to take control of everything, a revelation that should comfort those that might mistrust or misunderstand Google, like these music companies.
But for the consumer, for you or me, Vevo’s nice but nothing groundbreaking. It’s nothing we have been anxiously waiting for. It might make money or let the music companies feel better about the Internet…but for now all I have to say on the website can be summed up in one word.
Meh.