Vevo

When you hear the word "startup" the image springs to mind of a couple of enthusiastic but broke guys in a tiny office somewhere in silicon valley, trying to figure out if their newly-acquired venture capital will stretch to a desk. This, however, is a startup with a difference. In this case, the partners are considerably richer and more successful than most, already: Google, Universal Music and Sony Music have joined up to launch Vevo, a huge music video site that has already acquired nearly fifty million US visitors and one and a half billion hits worldwide. Not too shabby for a site that only opened back at the end of 2009.

It's Hulu for music videos, more or less, and it already has a selection of more than 30,000 videos with half of the revenue from ads and sponsorship going back to the performers. As the music business moves increasingly to the web, Vevo clearly hopes to become one of the top venues and is already well on its way. A must-bookmark if music videos are your scene.