The major labels’ new video site Vevo is due to launch tonight. A potential upside is that Vevo’s backend is powered by Google and YouTube technology, which may make it easier to integrate social features. It might also fuse somehow with the Google music search. The potential downside is that it could be fueled by greed more than music. It’s limited to music from the partnering labels, but three of the “big four” are on board—Universal, Sony, and EMI. Vevo is owned by Universal, Sony Music Entertainment, and Abu Dhabi Media. Deals have been set to license media from EMI and CBS (CBS Radio and Last.fm).

Can Vevo compete with YouTube? “Unlike YouTube, it will not also contain user-generated stuff that potentially scares off advertisers, which Vevo hopes will allow it to charge more for ads.” (Wired.com). The videos are meant to be “premium” content such as hi-fi official videos, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage. In addition to needing killer video content, deciding factors in its adoption may be whether Vevo will embrace open media enough—for example by allowing embedding—and whether they’ll deliver the social, mobile features needed to build a community. Thoughts? Do you say…

Let us know what you think in the comment section below or on our Facebook page.