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Vevo says an 'unauthorized source' vandalized Drake, Lil Nas X and other YouTube channels
If you were trying to watch Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and other artists on YouTube this morning, you may not have seen what you expected.
Two French teens arrested for hacking Taylor Swift's and Drake's music videos
Back in April, hackers managed to deface YouTube music videos by Drake, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Shakira and others (including Despacito, the reigning king of views on the platform). The infiltrators swapped out their thumbnails and titles with incendiary and offensive content in an apparent prank. Today, two French teens were arrested in connection with the hack, charging them with several criminal counts each.
Vevo goes all-in on YouTube music videos
Raise your hand if you used Vevo's apps instead of watching music videos on YouTube. Anybody? That's what we thought. Despite Vevo's effort to grow its brand through apps and its website, nothing quite clicked -- so it's killing them to re-focus on YouTube. Variety reported those who did use Vevo's site and mobile apps can export their playlists to YouTube. The smart TV apps, meanwhile, seem to be sticking around for now.
YouTube takes control of Vevo music video ads
Vevo has struck a deal with YouTube that could significantly change the ads you see played on your favorite artist's music videos, ReCode has reported. Rather than ads for other Vevo videos, as you mostly see now, you're likely to see the same ads that Google puts on videos from its "preferred" channels. That's because YouTube will be able to sell Vevo clips directly to its own advertisers, taking a cut of the revenue and passing the rest on to Vevo.
Vevo hack defaces YouTube music videos from Drake, Taylor Swift (updated)
If you were in the midst of a music video marathon this morning, you probably got a rude surprise. Hackers (one claiming to have used a script) defaced numerous top music videos, including Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's record-setting "Despacito" as well as clips from Drake, Katy Perry, Shakira, Taylor Swift and others. In many cases, the intruders swapped out the thumbnails with their own (such as a threatening gang image from a Netflix show) and altered show titles. The incident appears to be under control as we write this, but it no doubt panicked more than a few fans and artist representatives.
Vevo is working on a 'TRL-style' live show
Vevo's Watch Party app was a weird sell at first. Use it to watch music videos with online friends and C-list artists, and chat with them. Well, that's because we didn't know the end goal for it at the time. Now we do: A Total Request Live-style show. Variety reports that Vevo has been testing the show, dubbed "Vevo Live," over the summer and that a broadcast from last Friday with Fifth Harmony (above) netted some 3 million viewers across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. That's in addition to a live studio audience. Put it in Times Square and it all starts sounding a bit familiar, no?
Rub elbows with music’s C-list on Vevo’s Watch Party Live
Vevo launched Watch Party this past March as a way to watch music videos with your friends. You simply invite a bunch of buddies to a virtual room, built a playlist of videos from Vevo's catalogue , and everyone gets to watch at the same time. Now, Vevo's taking the concept even further with the addition of Watch Party Live, in which music stars create the playlist and interact with fans via a picture-in-picture video chat.
Vevo's Apple TV app takes cues from Spotify
Music lovers with Apple TVs, it's time to get moderately excited -- because the tvOS Vevo app is getting a hefty overhaul. From tomorrow, Vevo will let owners of fourth generation Apple TVs experience an endless wave of curated music videos like it's 1999 all over again.
Vevo's Watch Party lets you watch music videos in sync with your friends
Ever since streaming video became commonplace, people have expressed a desire to be able to virtually have a movie night with friends who aren't in the same place. Google has even released an app that lets you watch YouTube in sync with friends on your phones. Vevo may not have feature films or popular TV shows on its service, but the company believes that letting friends simultaneously watch its vast catalog of music videos can be highly engaging. To that end, Vevo is announcing a new feature called "Watch Party," which should be live by the end of the month. It lets you invite a bunch of friends to a room hosted on the Vevo website and build a queue of music videos that play back in sync regardless of where you're tuning in from. (Assuming you're in one of the 14 countries where Vevo is available, of course.) Anyone with a Vevo account can set up a "room" and start inviting friends to it. Once people start joining, the playback continues unabated; there's no way to pause or rewind. It's basically like you're all tuned in to MTV from your various homes, except that this version of MTV still plays music videos.
Vevo pauses its music video subscription plans
You probably aren't champing at the bit to pay for a music video subscription service, but if you are... well, you'll have to keep champing. Vevo chief Erik Huggers tells Variety that his company is putting its subscription plans on hold in favor of international expansion. Paid viewing is "still in the cards," but Vevo wants to lay the groundwork for it through a larger presence on the world stage.
Vevo lets you make GIFs from its massive music video library
Vevo just launched a new feature that should help it drive visitors to its recently-redesigned website: a GIF maker. Yes, one thing we can all agree on is that we all love GIFs, and Vevo is making it far easier to mine its massive music video library and turn them into short, shareable clips. The feature will initially launch on the web only, but Vevo says it'll come to its apps down the line.
Vevo will now feature the three biggest music labels' videos
Vevo has always had access to Sony Music's and Universal Music's videos -- it was, after all, a collaboration between the two companies. Now, thanks to a licensing deal it hashed out with the Warner Music Group, it can finally publish videos from all three major labels. It took a year of talks to close the deal, but now that both parties have signed on the dotted line, the platform can showcase premium videos from Warner's roster of artists, which include Bruno Mars, Charli XCX and Ed Sheeran.
Vevo's mobile-focused redesign offers smarter recommendations
Vevo has spent much of the past year or so entirely revamping its product. Most music video watchers probably first encountered the brand on YouTube; many artists big and small use Vevo to power their feeds. But the company has been focused on making its website and apps for iOS, Android and Apple TV destinations unto themselves rather than something that powers music videos on other platforms. Today marks another big push in that direction: Vevo is releasing a major update (including iOS and Android apps) that highlights a number of changes made across the platform. Among those are a new portrait-oriented video player for smartphones, public user profiles that you can follow for recommendations and a smarter and more visually engaging feed that uses Vevo's vast amount of data to show you more-relevant videos. Oh, and the company has a new logo, too.
Vevo revamp puts a personalized music video feed on your phone
If you're fond of gorging on music videos while you're waiting for the bus or lounging on the couch, Vevo has your back. It's launching redesigned Android and iOS apps that bring its more personalized experience to phones and tablets. The simpler interface revolves around a Spotlight section that shows both recommended videos (based on what you've watched and liked) as well as a New for You playlist that offers a relevant feed of the latest and greatest clips. You might not have to spend any time sifting through videos just to find something you'll enjoy, in other words.
Vevo's app can use your Spotify account to give better recommendations
Last year, Vevo rolled out a new iOS app that let users pick their favorite artists as part of an onboarding process meant to give better customized music recommendations (it later brought the same experience to Android). In the time I've spent with Vevo's apps lately, I've found they work well -- as long as you're a top 40 music fan. But going through that onboarding process is a pretty big pain point if you're a fan of music even slightly outside the mainstream; you just won't likely find many bands or singers you care about.
Vevo is planning to launch a music video subscription service
Vevo's done a lot of work over the last six months to improve its app ecosystem. First, the music-focused video service totally rebuilt its iOS app; it then brought those updates to Android and launched its first Apple TV app. They certainly made the Vevo experience better -- but after using YouTube Red and YouTube Music, using an ad-supported music video service felt like a step backward. Based on comments made yesterday by Vevo's CEO Erik Huggers, however, it sounds like that'll change soon.
Vevo's Apple TV and Android apps offer a more customized experience
Ask most people what comes to mind when they think of Vevo, and the answer will probably be the massive number of Vevo-sponsored musical artist pages on YouTube. If you watch a popular music video on YouTube, it's probably through the artist's channel in partnership with Vevo. However, the company wants to be known for more than just YouTube -- it wants its own apps and website to be a place for people to discover music and, yes, watch the most popular videos. To that end, the company rebuilt its iOS app from the ground up to offer users a personalized music experience based on artists they loved and the things they played the most. Today, the company's expanding that experience to two big platforms: Android and Apple's tvOS. Both apps launch today and are available in Google Play and the Apple TV app store, respectively.
Age ratings for online UK music videos are here to stay
After a six-month trial, the UK government has successfully persuaded record labels, YouTube and Vevo to display age ratings on music videos. Under the new system, labels will pass their work onto the BBFC before sending the final rating onto YouTube and Vevo. The video will then list the classification in its description and, in YouTube's case, be restricted to adult viewers if it's been given an 18. Vevo says it's looking at a similar system that would link ratings to age controls on its site, but we're still waiting on the details.
Magic Leap adds former Vevo CEO to its mysterious team
Magic Leap is as mysterious as it's ambitious. Ever since the Google-backed startup raised a whopping $542 million, it's been pegged as the next big thing in mixed reality. But apart from it being a platform that incorporates digital lightfield technology, little is known about the experience or the headset so far. What's known is that the company is building a rather unorthodox yet stellar team for its "techno-biology" mission. After appointing acclaimed sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson as the company's Chief Futurist late last year, the company has brought on Rio Caraeff, former CEO of Vevo, as its Chief Content Officer.
Targeted, interactive ads are coming to the Roku platform
Roku and advertising firm Innovid have joined forces to make advertisements on the company's streaming set-top boxes both more accurate and more entertaining. The new ad format will reportedly allow viewers to do things like play games (using the Roku remote), browse a retailer's stock and current sales, or even watch extended videos should they wish. Unfortunately, skipping the ads entirely doesn't appear to be an available option just yet. CBS, VEVO and Crackle have already signed on for the new service. Roku and Innovid actually began implementing this new system just over a month ago, however, it's only now going live. This news follows a pair of recent announcements from Roku that both Showtime and Nickelodeon are being made available to its users as well. What's more, the Innovid pairing will also allow advertisers to better target their desired audiences based on the user's location.
