Revver just brought new talent to its site, with the Pras Michel video blog. (See the announcement here.) Of course he isn’t the first urban celebrity to vlog, it’s just that most of them do it as a channel on YouTube, like Diddy. Then most of them don’t have their own site where they cross promote the video, except for a few exceptions like Gunit with its kyte deal.

But in this case, the former Fugees platinum rapper has partnered with Revver as part of a larger initiative, in which the video service simply serves as a distribution channel for his video blog. But he has a larger business model in mind, and it looks as if the video blog is just a teaser to bring people in and create brand awareness.

His newly launched Platinum Brand provides a laundry list of interactive services, including:

1. An interactive application that provides “click and learn” capabilities for product placement in web videos.
2. Video conferencing
3. Video e-mail
4. Walkabout video services, enabling web publishers to educate users on site features
5. Distribution services. (It appears that Platinum Brand may consider other video shows to add to its suite of videos.)
6. Content and Product distribution
7. Live broadcasting services
8. custom integration

Where most entertainers who have entered the social media fray — like 50 Cent with Thisis50.com and MC Hammer with DanceJam — as providers of content, it seems that Pras is thinking about the backend and making money off of enabling others to create content. Unless the solutions are turnkey though, it’s not going to work. People already have too many free methods for getting video out there, but if he can offer people these licensing services as his site suggests, then there may be a plus — the ability to spread the content faster with revenue streams already built in (like product placement). Sounds more like it’s for other entertainers than the average cat.

Platinum Brand
Revver Platinum Brand Channel

[H/T: Mashable]