Buzznet, which recently acquired the music blogs Idolator and Stereogum, recently received a $25 million investment of its own. As it turns out, some or all of that money came from an unlikely source: Universal Music Group.
Billboard confirmed Thursday that the largest record label in the world is a new investor in Buzznet, meaning that Universal Music Group now has an interest in the Idolator and Stereogum blogs.
"UMG is licensing its catalog for full-song streamingand music videos [on the blogs], as well as providing editorial content directly fromartists who will participate as guest bloggers," Billboard reported. Buzznet refused to comment on Universal's investment, other than confirming its existence.
A few months ago, I tried to help out will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peaswith a blogging gig, so I'm aware of an urge on the part of at leastone Universal artist to reach the audience through blogging. I've alsobeen wondering whether MP3 blogs will be the new record labels, since people already look to them for new music.
However, it's unclear how Idolator and Stereogum readers will react to major-label artists guest blogging on the sites. If it'sdone the right way, these artists' contributions could be a boon to the blogs by attracting fans who could become regular readers. But ifit's done the wrong way, people could flee to music blogs that arenot partially owned by one of the labels that owns the music reviewed on the site.
Like the celebrity guest bloggers, access to royalty-free audio and video streams from Universal could beanother great asset for these blogs. But they will not maintain their reputations if they start giving Universal artists special treatment or showing a bias against artists signed to competing labels. There's clear potential for a conflict of interest.
It'll be interesting to see how Buzznet's new acquisitions navigate those tricky waters. Even the specter of bias could spell disaster.
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