There's much buzz about YouTube's announcement this week that it plans to host "every music video ever created" within 18 months. Warner Music Group and EMI are involved in the talks. The videos will be free, which makes absolute sense - why does iTunes charge you to watch promotional material? Of course, YouTube is already a great venue for music videos of the more viral variety - like the OK Go on Treadmills video that's gaining almost cult status.
The videos will be treated like every other clip on the site, with the ability to rate them, favorite them and add comments. It's also a good bet that they'll appear in the new YouTube Music section - YouTube's equivalent of MySpace Music and Bebo Bands. One of the early successes here was Terra Naomi, who I discussed in the SayNow article. It's pretty clear that music was a major driver of MySpace's success, so this looks to be a really smart move from YouTube. What's more, the content providers will be pleased to see more legitimate ways to get their clips on the site. Of course, YouTube have been treading a fine line between legitimate and illegitimate content for some time - NBC's popular Lazy Sunday video was pulled from the site, but this was followed up by an NBC/YouTube deal to offer authorized videos. They're also being sued over a video of the Los Angeles riots (see YouTube Sued).
All in all, this looks like a win-win-win for YouTube, the record companies and the users.