Dublin, Ireland – 27 May, 2009 – Warner Music UK and MUZU (www.muzu.tv), the new music TV website and distribution platform purpose-built for the music industry, today announced a partnership that will see Warner Music video content available on MUZU across UK and Ireland. Under the terms of the deal, MUZU users will be given unlimited, on-demand access to thousands of videos from Warner Music’s roster of local and international acts. As part of the agreement, Warner Music UK and MUZU will share revenues generated by advertising through the site and its video player.

MUZU allows fans to create, watch and share music video playlists from wide-ranging video content including music videos, concerts, back-stage footage, documentaries and interviews. Registered users can embed their playlists on their social networking pages. Visitors will also be given the opportunity to purchase mp3’s, merchandise and concert tickets.

MUZU and Warner Music UK will work together to drive views, traffic and revenue on the MUZU platform as well as via syndication to MUZU’s publishing partners including Bebo, GigWise, Eircom.net and The Mama Group. In addition, Warner Music UK will also adopt MUZU as a promotional platform for events such as video premieres and exclusives as well as by embedding the MUZU video player into selected artist websites and social networking profiles.

Ciaran Bollard, CEO and co-founder of MUZU said, “This is great coup for MUZU users given we are one of the only video services to have deals with all four majors and strong support and representation from the independent sector. Warner has really embraced MUZU and truly recognize that a partnership is more than a license and will be working closely with us to co-market and syndicate the artist video content to drive new revenue opportunities.”

Noel Penzer, business development director at Warner Music Group said, “The fact that music videos engage a huge, diverse and passionate online audience, covering a wide range of tastes and behaviour, makes a video platform built around music an attractive proposition to artists, labels, fans and brands alike. A highly flexible and easy-to-use site, MUZU is a first-class music experience which puts the relationship between fan and artist at its core. It enables people to interact with music content whilst ensuring that artists and their music companies share in the value created.”

MUZU for the Music Industry
MUZU enables labels and bands to broadcast their music video on the web and get paid wherever it goes. MUZU pays content owners half of all the ad revenue generated from display ads on their MUZU channels and ‘in-video’ adverts within their MUZU players, both on MUZU and when players are embedded on external sites like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo or other external sites.

Any band or label can create their own branded music TV channel on MUZU, featuring multiple video playlists, along with a personalised profile, messaging and fans or friends section. On MUZU content owners always retain the rights over their video content and get paid royalties as normal through MUZU’s agreement with the collection societies. They also retain full control over their video as they decide what goes live and can add or remove any of their videos whenever they feel like it.

MUZU for Music Fans
For music fans, MUZU is primarily about watching, creating and sharing unlimited music video playlists. Fans can access over 10,000 artist channels including major label acts like MGMT, The Ting Tings, White Stripes, Adele, Bon Iver, Cold Play, David Bowie, The Kooks and Beyonce, and up and coming indie bands like Fight Like Apes.

Fans can also create their own Music TV Channels featuring any video on MUZU, and embed them in their social networking pages further increasing the revenue potential for bands. Fans can also feature on their favourite artist channels by uploading video they have created on that artist. They can also interact with other fans, discover and share music, all legally and at no cost.

Helienne Lindvall from The Guardian has come up with a novel idea to award a ‘Fair Trade’ type stamp of approval to music websites that fairly compensate creators of the music they make available on their sites. This would empower consumers to make the decision to use legitimate music sites and support their favourite artists, rather than ‘stealing’ from them by getting music from illegal download sites.

MUZU & Spotify
Lindvall highlights two sites which she believes would qualify for such a designation — MUZUand www.spotify.com. These sites provide consumers with free access to music videos (MUZU) and mp3s (Spotify) from major label, indie and unsigned artists, while supporting the music industry by paying both royalties and a share of advertising revenue generated from views and plays of the artists’ music.

Lindvall says “Maybe we should have a Fair Trade grade stamp for music, which says that the workers who created this product were fairly treated and paid for their work. Like Fair Trade coffee, it wouldn’t have to cost more to purchase (it could even be free), but it may make the consumer feel that their conscious choice has made a difference to the artist.”
Explaining the artist-friendly merits of MUZU, Lindvall explains: “Unlike YouTube, MUZU has licence agreements with some of the best independent labels around. They work with the artists (even unsigned ones) and share the advertising revenue. Artists can restrict the categories of ads appearing on their videos. Some bands don’t want ads for alcohol or firearms (I suspect there are a lot of bands that don’t want that), for example.

Here are some examples of Dance artists available on MUZU:

Dance TV on MUZU.

Lindvall goes on to say, “MUZU.TV provides a studio in Dublin for free, where artists can film live gigs to be broadcast on their channel. They also digitise old video footage for free in return for groups giving the site exclusives. Bands such as the White Stripes have taken advantage of this on MUZU, as they think the quality of any footage posted on the net is important (compare this to YouTube). I’ve tried out the site and am very impressed. You can create your own channel and playlists and share them with others. They have exclusive footage from classic TV show The Tube (great for checking out what artists were like before they were all media trained), and it’s easy to get stuck-in for hours.”

We say – since YouTube is now blocking users in the UK and Germany from watching ‘premium music videos’ switch to MUZU and support your favourite bands!

Here are some examples of Alternative artists available on MUZU:

Alternative TV on MUZU.

A little bit about MUZU
On MUZU you can create, watch and share music video playlists. You can create these playlists from thousands of videos and embed them on your social networking pages and other sites, using the simple embed code provided. MUZU has thousands of hours of diverse music video content including concerts, back-stage footage, documentaries, tutorials, music videos, interviews and classic music TV shows like The Tube. MUZU users can also purchase mp3’s, merchandise and concert tickets from their favourite artists.

Here are some great examples of live concerts available on MUZU:

EagleRock TV on MUZU.

For full article and comments check out The Guardian.

Here are some great examples of classic videos and interviews available on MUZU:

Rock TV on MUZU.

Warriors Dance is the second single to be taken from the European number 1 album ‘Invaders Must Die’ and is released on 11th May.

The Prodigy formed in 1990 and along with Orbital, The Chemical Brothers and many other acts they became one of the pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre and they are well known for their high energy, high quality live sets. They have sold over 16 million records worldwide to date.

‘Invaders Must Die’ is the fifth studio from the band. The first single of the album ‘Omen’ was a smash hit and debuted at number one on the singles charts in early 2009.
The band are out on tour this summer and will be appearing at Isle of Wight Festival, Global Gathering, Reading and Leeds festivals to name a few.

Check out The Prodigy channel on MUZU TV http://www.muzu.tv/theprodigy

The Prodigy – Warrior’s Dance on MUZU.

To coincide with the launch of her new single, ‘I Do Not Hook Up’ which is released on April 20th, 2009, American Idol winner and Sony BMG recording artist Kelly Clarkson has teamed up with MUZU.TV (www.muzu.tv) to give her Irish fans an exclusive look at the new video.

The album’s recording was finished in October 2008 and the first single ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’ peeked at number 5 on the single charts.

‘I Do Not Hook Up’ was written by Katy Perry and is the second single from ‘All I Ever Wanted’.
Kelly describes ‘All I Ever Wanted’ as a soulful dance album and how she took a different approach to writing on the record, using the ‘got to experience it to write about it’ approach.
Kelly’s MUZU TV channel http://www.muzu.tv/kellyclarkson also includes videos from her three previous successful releases ‘Thankful’, ‘Breakaway’ and ‘My December’.

This is an exclusive in Ireland only.

KELLY CLARKSON – I Do Not Hook Up on MUZU.

The Winter Music Conference means something to just about everyone in the dance music community. It is one of the biggest and best dance music events in one of the few cities in the US that still knows the meaning of the word party.

The International Dance Music Awards celebrated their 24th year in 2009. The organization has become the single strongest authority of what is truly hot in dance music culture.

This year seen Armada music chosen as Best Global Dance Label and Armin Van Buuren, co-owner of Armada Music receiving four awards. The following catagories that he picked up awards in are as follows –

Best European DJ: Armin van Buuren
Best Progressive House / Trance Track: In and Out of Love Armin van Buuren ft Sharon den Adel
Best Radio Mix Show: Armin van Buuren State of Trance
Best Music Video: “In And Out Of Love” – Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon den Adel – Armada/Ultra Records

Check out the Armin Van Buuren channel on MUZU TV http://www.muzu.tv/arminvanbuuren

Armin van Buuren TV on MUZU.

Also check out the Armada Music Channel on MUZU TV http://www.muzu.tv/armadamusic

Armada Music TV on MUZU.

For all unsigned bands check out this channel on MUZU TV – www.muzu.tv/unsigned

Register on the site here – http://www.muzu.tv/

Unsigned TV on MUZU.

MUZU TV is happy to announce a partnership between ourselves and Rivmixx – Your Global Music Network Magazine. http://www.rivmixx.com/

Rivmixx Exclusive – EXCLUSIVE: breakspoll 09: video documentary on MUZU.

‘If U Seek Amy’ is the third single of Britney Spears 6th studio album Circus. Circus debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200, moving over 505,000 units in its first week, making it the sixth fastest-selling album of 2008.

Spears is currently on the road with her Circus tour and will be bringing the show to the 02 London on 3rd June 2009 for 8 nights. These will be her only European concert dates.

Check out her MUZU TV Channel – http://www.muzu.tv/britneyspears

Britney Spears – If U Seek Amy on MUZU.

The Pet Shop Boys are an electronic dance music duo from Great Britain, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides the main vocals, keyboards and guitar and Chris Lowed on keyboards and sometimes vocals.

The duo have sold more than 50 million records worldwide and since 1986, they have had 39 Top 30 singles and 22 top 10 hits in the U.K including the number one hits ”West End Girls”, ”It’s a Sin”, ”Always on my mind”, and ”Heart”.

At the Brit Awards this year, they received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
Their new album is entitled ”Yes” and was released on the 23rd March 2009.
Check out the video’s below for Love Etc in the player below.

Also for some great videos from the duo check out their MUZU.TV Channel – http://www.muzu.tv/petshopboys

Pet Shop Boys – Love etc. on MUZU.

”Thinking of You” is the next single off Katy Perry’s debut album ”One of the Boys”. Perry is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

She rose to fame in 2007 with the internet hit ”Ur So Gay”, and later in 2008 came her breakthrough single ”I Kissed a Girl”. The album has been a massive commerical success having sold over 800,000 copies in the United States alone.

Katy Perry MUZU TV Channel – http://www.muzu.tv/katyperry

Katy Perry – Thinking Of You (Extended Video) on MUZU.