Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Is Google's Eric Schmidt the next David Geffen?


For several years, YouTube has been a disruptive force in film and television. Now music poobahs are wondering what designs Google may have on their businesses. Three of the four largest recording companies are in talks to renegotiate music-licensing deals with Google's YouTube. Sony Music is very near to inking a YouTube agreement, say my industry sources. Meanwhile, YouTube has reportedly started to generate "tens of millions" for some of the labels.

At the same time, the music store Amazon.com created on Android, Google's mobile-phone operating system, is leading to big music sales. Google declined to provide numbers or to comment for this story, but my sources say that the labels are "very happy" with Android's songs sales. In addition, Google could one day tap into a huge market by helping people discover and buy music using search, according to Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with research firm IDC.

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