O2 adds music downloads to UGC mobile site

LONDON - O2 has launched a new service, Your Show, which brings audio capability to LookAtMe!, O2's user-generated video download service.

Your Show will allow customers to submit original music content, including ringtones, for other users to download.

Since its launch in June 2006, O2 customers have been downloading over 45,000 clips a day from LookAtMe! Customers who upload content onto LookAtMe receive a fee each time a clip is viewed.

Russ Shaw, director of capability and innovation at O2 UK, said: "We're very pleased with the success of LookAtMe! which is, if you like, part video store, part mobile reality TV. Our customers love it. Your Show is the logical next step for the home of music -- it's a chance for everyone to get creative and begin selling videos and tracks and make money out of it."

O2 stress that all clips submitted undergo a rigorous human moderation process, which ensures that the clips are excellent in audio and content quality.

Your Show users can download clips for 35p, 3p of which goes back to the originator of the track. As a promotion, customers can download free tracks as part of the O2 Long Weekend promotion. Both Your Show and LookAtMe are provided by Yospace.

Last week Chad Hurley, user generated content site YouTube co-founder, announced that the site would start sharing ad revenues with site users to reward creativity and popularity. However the offer only applies to those that own the copyright to the videos they send in.

Other video sharing sites in the UK, such as mobile phone service 3, already share the revenue of popular videos with those that send them in. The videos have to be popular enough to raise ad revenues.