Independent rights agency Merlin Network and YouTube have reached a global licensing deal in which Merlin's member labels will be compensated when their official videos or user-generated videos are played, according to a Billboard.biz report.
Americans spent 22.5 percent of their time on the Internet utilizing social media during the third quarter of 2011, compared to 9.8 percent for online games and 7.6 percent for email, according to Nielsen's "State Of The Media: The Social Media Report."
Social media has played a huge role in the music industry with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter having helped fuel the discovery and promotion of many unsigned artists and bands, as well as the promotion of currently signed artists.
