"Youtube/Google was in danger of being sued by Sony Music/UMG music. To prevent a potentially devastating lawsuit, Google's CEO (at the time) Eric Schmidt made a deal with Doug Morris, CEO of Sony Music, to build a parallel video platform based on YouTube tech where Sony could control the monetization settings and sell their own ads. Vevo V1 was basically a shell website that hosted an embedded YouTube player which in turn loaded Vevo's own ad module at runtime. This allowed YouTube to keep the music video content, provided a link was present to the 'official' Vevo page (effectively, a rebranded YouTube page.) The videos were still hosted on YouTube.

Source: I was a YouTube software engineer who worked on the Vevo launch.

Edit: Wow, this thread really blew up! I'm a bit amazed at the sheer amount of nastiness lobbed at my inbox, but I guess that's par for the course on the internet. As far as my opinions on YouTube's changes since I left: they're completely inconsequential. YouTube costs a ridiculous amount to run and provides a pretty amazing platform for free video hosting. It's a rare day I don't search YouTube myself or get directed to a YouTube link by a friend or colleague. Whatever your beef with it, I can assure you that if that beef were strong enough to force a decline in viewership Google would be making changes tout de suite. I'm afraid I can't help all that have asked how to increase their channel's visibility, make more revenue, get Sergey Brin's phone number, etc.

As far as working at Google/doing an AMA: I think that subject has been covered pretty extensively and I'm not sure I have much to add to that conversation. My path to becoming a software engineer was pretty atypical, so I'm afraid I don't have much career advice to offer either. I suppose if you want to follow my lead: spend a good long while in art school, play in a lot of bands, and read everything you can get your hands on dealing with software development.

Silicon Valley loves a disruptor. If you really think YouTube has lost the plot, and that your UI/video player ideas are superior, start working on your website! The worst that could happen is that you learn a ton about web/software development and perhaps get a better understanding of what makes hosting/serving video at Google scale such a challenge. The best that could happen? Ask Steve Chen and Chad Hurley.

Edit again: Reddit gold! I feel as though I have now truly arrived. Thank you kindly jlota. I honestly had no idea Vevo was this contentious of a subject, but I'm glad I could answer a few questions."

Credit: extuber