Warner Music opens up to Youtubers

Arstechnica reports that Warner Music is set to offer youtubers the freedom of its back catalogue.

Distibuting official music videos via youtube is a brave step. Allowing consumers to soundtrack their home-made video with Warner's premium audio content is a flea-like leap into the unknown.

But, like fortune, Diginatives favour the brave (and adore the flea-like). When a youtube user integrates a Warner artist's music into his or her creation, that artist will become a contributor, or even a co-creator. The positive experience of creating that content will, in part, be a positive experience of the artist's brand, and that brand will forever be associated with a moment of inspiration, creativity and pride. Not bad for zero work, plus a pay cheque and a bit of free advertising every time the video is viewed!

Of course there is the risk of Warner's music being included in, and associated with, some truly awful and amateurish content. Worse still, it is only a matter of time before an artist is the target of a vicious video polemic to which he or she provides the soundtrack. But this is the nature of web 2.0: consumers are in the driving seat, and brands can either buckle up and enjoy the ride, or readjust their blinkers and keep walking... until a similarly vicious blog post bounces them into the gutter.