Nettwerk Management, a label and music management firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia has found a way to make money for artists on YouTube and has raked in £1 million for Avril Lavigne’s video Girlfriend in just one year. This hefty sum is for Avril Lavigne’s own pocket as it is what is left over after YouTube has taken its cut.
A year go Nettwerk Management uploaded Lavigne’s official video Girlfriend to YouTube and began a fan campaign to drive fans to the site. The video received 100 millions hits from around the world. On the page views for Girlfriend are ad views and this is where Nettwork Management has found its pot of gold.
Nettwerk Management is a maverick enterprise in the mainstream music industry who was one of the first to abolish access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers, publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. The label sells all of their music in an un-encrypted MP3 format, allowing fans to share their music.
In 2006 Nettwerk Management are champions in the movement to free music. The company offered to pay the legal fees of teenager David Gruebel who was slapped with a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America for downloading music.
Nettwerk manages Dido, the Pipettes and Martha Wainwright as well as Avril Lavigne, and releases music by the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Ron Sexsmith and the Be Good Tanyas on their label.
Nettwerk Management has followed the rainbow of their imaginations and found the motherload of gold at the end of it. The company’s CEO Terry McBride explained to MusicTank: “We haven’t even given kids the choice to show us this tipping point yet … the profit margin in the digital space is about 300% that inside the physical space.” And it is not even the end for the Lavigne video. “We will start a Mandarin website with Mandarin ads and we will make a shitload of money, because 40% of her intellectual property value comes from Asia.”
Rock on Nettwerk. Finally someone has found a way to make big change out of YouTube. It appears to be the tip of the iceberg. One can only imagine where this idea will take YouTube video posters. Who wants to be a millionaire?
