Hulu adds music videos, more
updated 01:55 pm EST, Wed November 18, 2009
Hulu to add EMI artist music vidoes, profiles
Video on demand service Hulu, which offers the majority of its content for free to US viewers, is adding a dedicated music video section to its site on Wednesday. Together with music label EMI, the first artist's videos will be singer Norah Jones, before more artists' work is featured over time. All of Jones' videos will be on the site, as will footage of four concerts and several of her interviews.
This is in contrast to the more generous mix of music videos from sites such as YouTube and even MySpace. Hulu is focusing in-depth on each artist it spotlights, though some believe it's just a way of making up for the lack of variety, as only EMI has partnered with Hulu thus far. It's believed Hulu is not willing to pay the larger music labels the money they require.
Hulu indicates that it will eventually be in a relationship with all four major music labels.
The move potentially puts Hulu in more direct competition with services like iTunes and the Zune Video Marketplace, which are some of the few to mix both full-length commercial TV and movie content with music videos. [via NYTimes]
