UMG may quit YouTube over low CPM deals, says Doug Morris
As part of a wide-ranging interview with Billboard, UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris has been talking about the label’s possible divorce from YouTube at the end of this year. It’s been rumoured that UMG will set up its own D2C video site instead, to get higher CPM revenues.
“With YouTube, the quality isn’t great; it gets low [cost per thousand],” he says. “On the other hand, more professional [services] get a higher CPM. So the idea of us getting tied into a lower CPM isn’t a smart thing.” Online video revenues are apparently “far more” than $20 million for UMG already.
Morris also talks about UMG’s equity investments in music web startups, and the PR fallout from the RIAA’s file-sharing lawsuits. On the former: “No one’s going to build a build a business off our backs if I can help it without us being part of it. It’s just not fair… If these companies are successful, we’ll do well. It’s better than having a company like MTV, where we gave them our music for very little money and they built a $30 billion company or whatever it was for nothing.”
Tags: doug morris, UMG, youtube
