• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 25, 2012

From its inaugural “upfront” on Wednesday, Vevo added six new music-centered series to its 2012 program schedule.

Leading off the lineup is Vevo’s first reality competition show, “Busk or Bust,” which it co-produced with Shine America (formerly Reveille), and which features contestants literally singing for their supper.

Regarding Vevo’s new offerings, CEO Rio Caraeff said: “Our philosophy is to develop originals that speak to people’s passions, give fans access to their favorite artists and, most importantly, deliver compelling stories driven by music.”

Without providing specifics, Caraeff also alluded to “unique brand partnerships we can create together to bring these stories to life.”

Accompanying Caraeff, Wednesday’s event featured L.A. Reid, chairman and CEO of Epic; Frank Cooper, CMO of PepsiCo; and Tim Spengler, Global CEO of Magnaglobal.

Additional series include “Cover Stories,” a comedic take on classic album covers co-produced with Amos Content Group; “Hear Me Out,” a music-based dating show co-produced with Principato-Young Entertainment; “Sound + City,” a city-specific guide to music scenes co-produced with Show Cobra; “Strange Island,” a scripted musical comedy series co-produced with Weird Logic and Hello & Company; and “You Play Like A Girl,” a girl-centric aspirational series co-produced with Mike Welch, and hosted by Samantha Maloney, former drummer for Hole and Motley Crue. 

Also on Wednesday, Scott Reich, Vevo’s vice president, programming and original content, said the company’s music-centric originals will continue to give viewers exclusive access to top artists, but with a new focus on telling stories from fans’ perspective.

Reich added that viewers can also expect more Vevo’s Certified programs -- a ‘hall of fame’ type-award for music videos, which he said previously achieved more than 100 million views.

ComScore’s March 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that Vevo held the top position -- with 49.1 million viewers -- followed by Warner Music’s video channel with 30.3 million viewers.

Overall, Vevo reached 250 million unique visitors worldwide, according to comScore. Viewers watched an average of 60 minutes of video programming in March, comScore recently found.