MUZU TV
Encyclopedia
MUZU TV is an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 owned interactive music website featuring free music content legal video sharing
Video hosting service
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video...

 website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

. Co-founded by Ciarán Bollard and Mark French, it was launched in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 16 July 2008. Seven million videos were played monthly and there were two million users within one year of the launch, with users creating their own TV channel. Described by Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 as a likely rival for YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, it expects to obtain a profit in early 2010.

The company's headquarters are divided between three cities, Dublin, Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...

, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and it employs 25 people. It allows videos to be uploaded to the website and external websites, with the original copyright holder maintaining their ownership, while the website is funded through embedded advertising. Artists are granted 50 per cent of advertising revenue.

Company history

Before the launch Sony BMG signed an agreement with MUZU TV to allow more than 6,000 videos by artists, including The Ting Tings
The Ting Tings
The Ting Tings are an English music duo comprising Jules de Martino and Katie White . They formed in December 2007 while based at Islington Mill Studios in Salford...

 and Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

, to appear on the site, with a further 2,000 hours of footage from entities such as Cherry Red
Cherry Red
Cherry Red is a London-based independent record label formed in 1978.-History:Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at the Malvern Winter Gardens...

, Eagle Rock Entertainment
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Eagle Rock Entertainment is the largest producer and distributor of music programming for DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and Digital Media in the world. Eagle works directly alongside talent to produce top quality, high-definition and 3D programs, both concerts and documentaries, including The Rolling Stones,...

, Hollywood Music, Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...

, Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...

 and Planet Rock Profiles
Planet Rock Profiles
Planet Rock Profiles Irish produced and long-running television show consisting of a biographical profile of a band or musician. Created by Eamonn Maguire and initially presented by Dave Fanning, and later by Tom Dunne, Planet Rock Profiles has aired on RTE Two, ITV, Channel V, Music Country, VH1...

. Converse, Heineken International, O2, Pioneer Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
is a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop...

, Ray-Ban and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 were among the earliest companies to advertise on the website. On 20 August 2008, it was announced that a deal had been signed with ITN, which gave MUZU TV access to archive footage of TV shows such as The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...

and Calendar Goes Pop
Calendar (News)
Calendar is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Yorkshire at its studios in Leeds, serving Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and parts of the North Midlands and North West Norfolk...

.

EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 signed a deal on 16 January 2009 which permitted the website to feature more than 5,000 videos. On 19 January 2009, it was announced that Beggars Group
Beggars Group
Beggars Group is a British record company that owns or distributes several other labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, and XL Recordings...

 had signed. On 27 January 2009, Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986. Its original orientation was toward contemporary folk music—notably Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, recorded on a Sony Walkman, one of its first releases...

 announced it had signed a global deal, with its founder commenting that MUZU TV was "purpose-built for the music industry and we believe it holds great revenue potential". On 21 July 2009, it was announced that Merlin Network
Merlin Network
Merlin Network, or just Merlin, is a non-profit organization charged with "representing independent music companies in enhancing the commercial exploitation of their copyrights on a global basis." Merlin's mission is "to represent the world's independent music sector and act as an efficient central...

, which had previously refused both MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, had signed. Announced on 25 January 2010 were deals with AOL Music
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

, Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....

 and the Telegraph Media Group
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

.

The Samsung Group
Samsung Group
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

 said in January 2010 it would allow the development of a MUZU TV app for its televisions.

Awards

The Irish Internet Association named Bollard and French as the 2009 Net Visionaries. IIA Chair Maeve Kneafsey announced the winner at a ceremony on 21 May 2009 by describing the website as "an inspiration to the current and future generations of internet entrepreneurs who know that the internet means that there are no boundaries on what we can do in Ireland, the only limit being our imagination". Bollard and French spoke at the Dublin Web Summit on internet business in Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

on 4 February 2010.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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