Hulu Launches Music Video Channel

by wildcherry on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | News, Tech/Gadget

Hulu, a site famous for offering free TV shows and movies, is about to start singing a different tune: music videos.

On Wednesday the company plans to announce a somewhat limited deal with EMI, the smallest of the four major music labels, to give a “channel” on Hulu to the crooner Norah Jones. All of Ms. Jones’s videos will be posted to the site, as well as footage of four concerts and several interviews. Ms. Jones has a new album, “The Fall,” coming out this week. The plan is to add other EMI artists over time, as well as new Norah Jones material.

People have been wondering all year when Hulu would begin adding music videos. Its much bigger rival, YouTube, has a vast archive of music videos from all of the major labels, and is working on a music video hub, called Vevo, with Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment. MySpace also has a large collection of videos. Hulu’s deal with EMI is more limited, which is probably a sign that Hulu is declining to give the financial terms the labels are looking for.

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