Vevo, the music video streaming service that the major music labels hope will rival the influence of MTV, launched on Tuesday night with a star-studded party in New York City. Big-name performers included Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert, while music stars like 50 Cent, Ciara, John Mayer, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Elvis Costello rubbed elbows with music and media executives like Google's Eric Schmidt, Clive Davis, Jimmy Iovine and Tommy Mottola. U2's Bono gave the opening address, which began, "Friends, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of the old model that was the music business."
Vevo, a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and investor Abu Dhabi Media, is an ad-supported music video streaming service that launched with clips from three of the four major labels. EMI joined the service just this week, while negotiations with Warner, the sole holdout, are ongoing. A number of independent labels, artists and digital aggregators are on board with Vevo as well.
"Its like the Grammys here," Billboard's Bill Werde Tweeted from the event. "The whole business in one room."
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