Ask AI: What is VEVO when it comes to YouTube? Please provide a comprehensive, educational answer with a particular focus on its early origins.

VEVO is a joint venture between three major record companies - Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME), and Warner Music Group (WMG), though originally it was launched by only UMG and SME in December 2009. VEVO is a music video and entertainment platform that partners with YouTube to distribute music videos from artists associated with its parent companies. The inception of VEVO started as a response to two key shifts in the music industry occurring around the late 2000s. First was the fundamental change in how consumers accessed music, moving away from physical album purchases toward digital media, including streaming platforms. Second was the growing popularity of YouTube as the go-to platform for music video streaming. Despite the vast viewership, revenue generation from YouTube was not seen as optimal by record companies. VEVO aimed to significantly improve this situation by providing a specialized, high-quality music video platform that could attract a substantial number of viewers, and in turn, more advertisers. This would generate higher ad revenues that would directly benefit the record companies and their artists. Basically, through VEVO, the record companies were aiming to regain control over their content distribution and related revenue. VEVO premiered with a handful of videos from UMG and SME artists, and within a few years, it grew considerably and diversified its catalog. It functions as a separate entity, but its partnership with YouTube allows the platform to reach a broad audience, capitalizing on YouTube's established user base. So, when you see a music video on YouTube with "VEVO" in the title, that's a nod to the source of the content. Essentially, VEVO controls and monetizes the music video content from the respective label's artists. While VEVO's primary platform is via YouTube, they also have their own website and app for streaming music videos. Over the years, VEVO has continued to grow and has been influential in furthering music video as a pivotal part of artist's creative expression and promotion.