Sony BMG to Stream Free Music Videos

Responding to the surge in popularity of online video sites like YouTube, music label Sony BMG plans to provide consumers free access to its vast library of music videos, along with artist interviews and live performances.

The new service, called Musicbox Video, will stream videos in a Flash-based player that utilizes technology provided by Brightcove and includes playlists with top videos and genres. Sony BMG artist sites will also feature custom versions of the player, which requires no download.

Sony BMG hopes Musicbox Video will help expand its advertising revenues on the Web. The video clips will contain pre-roll commercials, as well as supporting video overlays. The label will also sell sponsorships and integrated packages to advertisers.

Brightcove will handle advertising for the service, and the company says it has already booked leading brands such as DreamWorks Animation SKG and HP.

The move by Sony BMG comes amid a recent crackdown from the music industry on YouTube and its rivals Google Video, Yahoo! Video and AOL Video. The sites are commonly used for uploading copyrighted material such as music videos, leading the industry to look for ways to offer the content on its own.

Like those sites, Sony BMG will enable users to share music videos with others and post them to their Web sites and blogs. The players will even offer RSS feeds for notifying users when new videos have been added.