As of November 5, 2009, Sony is adding official Music Videos (MV) from various artists to their PlayStation Network. Most of whom are licensed under their name, Sony Music Japan. Artists like FLOW, BEAT CRUSADERS, UVERworld, L’Arc~en~Ciel, Nakagawa Shoko and many other bands as well as solo artists. In addition, they are also adding English bands and solo artists such as Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Avril Lavigne, and even Madonna.
As of present this is only limited to PSN Japan, but it may spread to neighbouring countries (like Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, etc) very soon. No word whether we will see a North American or European “MV” sector, but provided Sony can get the rights to distribute the content in the respective countries, they jusy may, especially English bands and solo artists, if not Japanese.
One thing for certain is, now we will be seeing less MV’s from the P2P network (ripped from MTV Japan or alike) and more directly from the PlayStation Network as this service is free, and if not, payment of a small sum and the fact you can get it in both HD and SD. I’ve never seen MV’s in HD, so I’m looking forward to that.
P.S. There are just over 50 MV’s right now, but Sony will be adding more as time goes by… If you are a Gundam anime franchise fan, do check into it, as 15% of them are from the Gundam soundtrack.
Update: In addition to Music Videos, tons of anime series and a few anime movies have been added to the store for purchase. Here and here is a list.