• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, August 10, 2010

MTV's skirmish with Universal Music Group over the way in which the TV network can run UMG music videos across their sites is a portent of things to come. Two or three years ago the online reflex defaulter was to hyper-distribution. Embed and proliferate. Get that video out as far as the sharing tools could bring you. In the coming phase of the market everyone is going to be more reserved in their distribution strategy as media companies partner up and a lot of vested interest stat colliding.

As the Wall Street Journal chronicled the dispute last week, UMG removed its music videos from circulation on MTV sites when the two companies failed to reach a syndication agreement. According to the WSJ, instead of dealing directly with UMG, the label wants MTV to work through the joint venture Vevo as the distribution hub for music video. Presumably, MTV would have to run the videos through Vevo's media player and and including Vevo-sold advertising. MTV would get a cut, according to the report, but clearly it would not be as lucrative as serving the videos and ads themselves. "During our recent discussions with Vevo, we were unable to reach a fair and equitable agreement for rights to stream UMG artists' music video content," MTV said in a statement. UMG counters thet "MTVN has been unwilling to negotiate a fair syndication deal with Vevo ... We believe that using Vevo as our online music video syndication platform is the best way to maximize revenue for our artists, our songwriters and ourselves."

As media companies conglomerate and joint-venture up, the power clearly lies with those who own the content and manage to verticalize their power to get a piece of distribution too. How and where video shows up online, and who owns the ad space, will be the contested territory for some time to come. For MTV Sony's contract will be the next headache. But that is only the beginning.

This new world of corporate takeovers and alliances among competitors makes for some curious interests. What for instance happens at NBC/Comcast to the Hulu investment and distribution policies when NBC is owned by a parent company that has its own TV Everywhere Xfinity product to promote? As film and TV studios barter with competitors like NetFlix, Xfinity and Hulu over which service gets what elements of the catalog to stream when, we may see some complex deals. One wonders if we will return to the days when distributors tried to leverage their exclusive rights to specific high-profile content online. Let the content wars begin.