Yesterday was a tough day for new music video site VEVO. The backing of 2 major labels, $300 million form Adu Dhabi and tech from Google and you still couldn't sign up or get a page to load. Many that could get on to look around were seriously underwhelmed.
Hypebot Associate Editor Kyle Bylin wrote in: "Like a growing number of you, I wake up, go out into the kitchen, grab a bowl of cereal, sit down in front of my computer, and open up Hypebot to see what’s happening in the music industry today. So, when I checked out VEVO this morning and typed in a few of my favorite artists, I knew exactly why I wasn’t able to view music videos by them, as some of them are represented by Warner Music."
"And, you know what?," Bylin continued. "I don’t care and neither does any music fan with realistic expectations about what they should expect from a site that streams music videos. If a VEVO doesn’t stream the music video you want to see then it doesn’t matter that it has a rather pretty interface or a nicely sized viewer. This is beside the fact that right now I’m trying to stream a music video that I don’t even want to see and am suddenly reminded of what the Internet used to work like during the days of dial-up. Oops, there it is, VEVO is sorry, because “there was an error processing [my] request.” I look forward to seeing how this site grows, but until that point in time I’ll just continue using YouTube if I want to see a music video."
#VEVO = fail
The buzz on Twitter was much the same:
- AngelicaMunster #Vevo = fail. First band I searched (#Placebo) they don't even have a video for, youtube it is!
The complaints go on for pages. The Matt Rosoff at the usually conservative CNet wrote a piece headlined "VEVO - A Music Site We Didn't Need. Even on VEVO's on own Twitter feed was filled with replies to confused users like this one, "I'm sorry! We're working on several issues that should help."
Can VEVO survive this messy start? It certainly has the deep pockets to fix its problems and move forward. But even if everything gets fixed qucikly at VEVO will anyone care?
Fans enjoy the amazing choice that YouTube offers. How can a site built on exclusivity and control compete with that. Is there any feature that VEVO offers that YouTube can't add if fans demand it.
Good luck VEVO. You'll need it.
