Google's YouTube dealmaker expands to rescue music service
updated 06:55 pm EST, Mon November 7, 2011
Google upgrades Robert Kyncl to making music deals
Google is hoping to clinch deals for its tentative music store by hoping that its key negotiator for video can spread his effect, sources unearthed Monday. Contacts for AllThingsD understood that Robert Kyncl, who was lured over from Netflix to get deals for what would ultimately become Google's Videos section on Android Market, was now being asked to clinch deals with music labels. Although he now reports to YouTube's CEO Salar Kamangar instead of the Global Head of Content, Kyncl now has music deal relationship manager Chris Maxcy under his wing.
The content head, Dean Gilbert, is believed to be focused more on technical matters than deals.
Google has so far had no tangible success in establishing a music store. In spite of teasing plans for a music store as early as its Google I/O 2010 last spring, it has remained mum for roughly a year and a half. The lack of progress led to it launching Music Beta without a label deal or a store to feed the cloud service. Negotiations have been stalled enough that Google is rumored to be going just with independents for any near-term store, choosing to sacrifice large amounts of music sales rather than have no store at all.
Kyncl has been credited with moving YouTube past its well-known prickly relationship with studios, many of whom are convinced it has been too lenient on piracy even with fast takedowns, and getting all the major studio deals it needed to have a viable rental service. At Netflix, he was instrumental to early days of getting significant movie and TV deals at a time when studios were skeptical streaming Internet subscriptions would work.
Much of the company's recent ambition in media has swirled around providing a complete ecosystem for Android like on iOS devices. While Amazon MP3, Netflix, and others have stepped in, Android doesn't have guaranteed access to music and only recently got access to books and video. A splintered platform and relatively poor copy protection led many service providers to come to Android either late or pass it entirely.
