Actually, Gaga is at the vanguard of a continued music video attack. Soulja Boy has grabbed 722.4 million views on “Crank That” alone, and other heavy-hitters include Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and of course, Rick Astley. Collectively, music videos make up more than half of the ‘Club’ list, mostly from professionally-generated (not user-generated) pieces.

Separately, sources to Hits Magazine pointed to a splash event at Skylight Studios in lower Manhattan, and participation from leading independents, brands, and other advertising agencies.  That was later confirmed by an email from Vevo, which additionally pointed to an upcoming presence across vevo.com and youtube.com.

Currently, the venture involves Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, though others are expected to join at a later date.  YouTube is powering the backend video technology.

Outside of launch and partner specifics, the challenge for Vevo is to find a way to better monetize music videos online.  That means sloughing away CPM-unfriendly elements associated with user-generated content, including affinity issues that emanate from loosely-regulated uploads and distasteful comments. Whether Vevo can create a neater, cleaner, and safer environment for advertisers remains unclear, though everyone involved has a great deal to gain from the effort.