The Social

Universal Music Group has licensed its music videos to Kiwibox, a social-media site for teens that relaunched in August after quietly existing since the late '90s.

Under the terms of the agreement, Universal's music videos will begin being distributed on the "KiwiboxTV" video portal before the end of the year. Universal's labels and artists will receive a cut of ad revenue in compensation.

"Music remains one of the most important outlets of teen expression, and Kiwibox has long been a leader in promoting artists to its rapidly expanding community, " CEO Lin Daisaid in a statement. "This (Universal) partnership validates our long-standing relationship with the music industry and commitment to providing valuable content for teens."

Kiwibox's slant is that it encourages members to create videos, articles, and other content for the site; the best creations are featured in an online "magazine."

Universal appears to have embraced a wide distribution strategy when it comes to social media. Its catalog is already available on a number of social networks and youth-focused sites, including Imeem, and its U.K. arm sponsored an original series on AOL's Bebo. The company has taken a stake in social site Buzznet, and joined other major labels in backing MySpace Music.

At the many advertising conferences dotting Internet Week New York this week, speakers and panelists have been exhorting the ad industry to start thinking more creatively when it comes to tackling digital media--even creating elaborate branded series in lieu of traditional commercials.

They weren't the only ones who got that memo. Record label Universal Music Group's Universal Music U.K. announced Monday that it's partnered with social network Bebo to broadcast a series called The Secret World of Sam King: one part video blog, one part Choose Your Own Adventure, and one part Universal advertorial. It's being produced by Globe Productions, a division of Universal.

The premise of the new series is that Sam King, an extremely low-level fictional employee of Universal Music, decides to found his own record label in the company mail room. Along the way, he encounters real-life Universal artists, and viewers will be able to submit opinions, send in material, and suggest which bands Sam should scout.

The show will also be fueled by product placement, with handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson signing on as the inaugural brand sponsor. Apparently this will lead to the protagonist "winding his boss up with mobile phone-related pranks."

Bebo and Universal have not provided a concrete debut date.

Universal's concept of a "brand show" is a bit similar to Back On Topps, a series created by former Disney exec Michael Eisner's video start-up Vuguru, as a promotion for the trading card company (which Eisner himself owns). That series, premiering this week, also pits fictional company employees against the celebrities affiliated with it--in Topps' case, famous athletes.

For Bebo, which has its biggest audience in the U.K., and parent company AOL, its 42 million members get video content that will (ideally) be enjoyable and will keep them around. It'll also be cross-promoted across other AOL video brands. For Universal, creating an (ideally) hip show geared toward Bebo's young users could help recapture the attention of a generation that's turned away from the major labels and in the direction of BitTorrent.

Universal Music Group has invested an undisclosed amount in pop-culture social network Buzznet.

Beyond the financial investment, this means that Universal artists will post promotional blogs on Buzznet, and the social site will have access to the label's music and video catalog.

Last week, Buzznet CEO Tyler Goldman told CNET News.com to expect a partnership announcement that would bring more audio content to the site.

According to a release from the two companies, this is "one of the first times that a music company will be directly involved in developing editorial programming for a social-media site, with both companies sharing in the revenue."

It's more extensive than Universal's partnerships with other social networks; the label has licensed its catalog to MySpace.com for its MySpace Music endeavor, as well as to music-focused social-media site Imeem.

With only 10 million active members--that's less than a tenth the size of News Corp.'s MySpace--Buzznet has some growth to do before it reaches its goal of being an MTV-caliber pop-culture influencer. The site has been aggressively bolstering its editorial content, acquiring music blog Stereogum and launching sister blog Videogum, with several hip blogging veterans at the helm.

Earlier this week, Buzznet announced that it had purchased another music blog, Idolator, from former owner Gawker Media.

Goldman hinted that more partnerships with big media companies were on the way for Buzznet. That's good, because having a single label behind a community and editorial site is a bit questionable.

Not only does Buzznet own music blogs like Stereogum and Idolator, but it also has deep partnerships with irreverent gossip blogs such as A Socialite's Life and Just Jared.

Let's hope that Universal's investment doesn't start tainting Buzznet's snappy editorial.

If the digital music business were a game of poker, Imeem can now claim to have a royal flush--sort of.

(Credit: Imeem)

The music-centered social network, which focuses on ad-supported streaming music and video that its members can arrange into "playlists" on their profiles, has announced a deal with Universal Music Group that gives Imeem access to full-length recordings of the recording giant's entire digital music and video catalog. This means that Imeem now has deals with all four major labels as well as a large number of independent labels.

The sprawling catalog of Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi, encompasses artists like Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Fall Out Boy, Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani, The Killers, Snow Patrol, and Maroon 5.

"If (the Universal deal) isn't a vindication for what we're doing, I don't know what is," Imeem co-founder and CEO Dalton Caldwell said in an interview with CNET News.com. He highlighted the fact that Universal has recently cracked down on the use of its content on most social-networking sites, requiring its streaming music clips on MySpace.com to be limited to 90 seconds rather than full songs. Imeem, Caldwell said proudly, has access to the entire files.

It's a sharp change in fortune for Imeem. Just over six months ago, the company--which then allowed users to upload and stream music despite not having deals with the labels in place--was sued by Warner Music Group for copyright infringement. Social-networking leader MySpace, too, had blocked Imeem widgets out of piracy concerns. Imeem then settled with Warner and got to work on licensing ad-supported content. It was a smart move; otherwise, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up could've gone under entirely.

But Imeem is used to changing course. The company was originally founded in 2005 as a generic social network in the form of a downloadable client that allowed members to communicate, share files with each other, and create interest groups. Since then, it's shifted its focus almost entirely to streaming music and music videos, and user accounts now tally about 19 million.

So what's next? "The thing we really need to do is monetize this thing and prove that we can make money," Caldwell said. And some critics have hinted that the user experience could use some attention, too. But if the free, ad-supported streaming model (there are no downloads or subscriptions involved) proves successful, Imeem executives hinted that they may try applying it to other forms of media like TV or film.

"In the beginning of 2008 you'll see a flurry of things happening on the video side," chief marketing officer Steve Jang said in an interview.

For now, executives have ruled out selling the company and cashing in. "This is the good part. We've been working so hard on these deals that we don't want to entertain (acquisition offers)," Caldwell said. "We just want to soak in the goodness of accomplishing our goals for a little while."

He clarified that even though virtually the entire music industry is on board, Imeem is still an unproven product. "I feel like we just ran a marathon, and we finished it, and I'm so proud of us," he explained, "but let's see if this works. We really are excited to prove the model out and all of the good vibes that went into getting here, we want to see them bear fruit."