Warner Music will be able to sell its own ads on the site and the "vast majority" of the revenue will go to the record label, Chris Maxcy, director of YouTube Partner Development, said Tuesday on a conference call.
With this accord, YouTube now has agreements with all four major record labels. Warner Music Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman pulled his company's videos from YouTube, the world's most popular video-sharing site, in December after discussions over royalties failed.
"It's a win for artists and fans around the world, and it represents many months of hard work for both companies," Maxcy said.
Videos from Warner Music artists will return to YouTube by year-end, Maxcy said. Warner plans to hire outside agencies to sells ads and find partnerships, such as sponsorships of videos and artists.
"Members of the YouTube community will not only be able to access videos and other music-related content from Warner Music Group recording artists and songwriters, but will also gain access to an enhanced user experience on YouTube with a feature-rich, high-quality premium player and enhanced channels," Warner Music saidin an e-mailed statement.
Warner Music rose 44 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $5.60 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It has advanced 85 percent this year. Google was unchanged at $498.53 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It has gained 62 percent.
Record labels are trying to boost online revenue as sales of compact discs tumble. YouTube, Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. plan a Web site called Vevo that would host videos. They plan to share advertising revenue.
Video on Google's sites drew more than 10 billion user views in August in the U.S., according to ComScore Inc. of Reston, Va. The views, which were almost all on YouTube, made Mountain View, Calif.-based Google's sites No. 1 with 40 percent market share. Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Wash., was No. 2 with 2.2 percent.
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