Just days after YouTube was publicly chastised by Universal Music Group's Doug Morris, Warner Music Group announces a revenue sharing deal with the video website. From the press release:

"In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, YouTube users will be able to incorporate music from WMG's recorded music catalog into the videos they create and upload onto YouTube. WMG thus becomes the first music company to harness YouTube's leading video entertainment service to commercially distribute its music video catalog."

The deal makes sense. WMG could have forced YouTube to police its users and weed out WGM content, or it could find a way to collaborate and build a new revenue stream. (The size and speed of that stream is unknown at this point. YouTube and its peers could eventually be a considerable source of revenue.) In contrast to P2P networks, YouTube's product is not a substitute for music and video sold at online stores such as iTunes. Maybe YouTube views won't result in additional sales, but they're not going to take anything away. WMG's best decision was to get a cut of the ad revenue.