YouTube to block all music videos to British users

MB_Angel10

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090309/tt ... 002c7.html

Google Inc's online video site YouTube said on Monday it will block all music videos to British users after it was unable to reach a rights deal with the main songwriters' collection society. Skip related content
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The world's largest video sharing site said PRS for Music, a British collection society that collects royalties on behalf of nearly 50,000 composers, was asking it to pay "many many times" more than its previous licensing agreement which has expired.

"The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS's proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback," the company said in a blog on Monday.

The move is the latest sign of the tension between YouTube and the music industry and also indicates the video site's resolve to keep operating costs under control as it strives to generate meaningful profits for Google.

YouTube said PRS was also unclear about which songs are included in the renewed licence.

"We've been talking to them for a long time and we're still talking to them," said Patrick Walker, YouTube director of video partnerships for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Walker described it as a "painful decision"

But PRS disputed YouTube's version of events and said it was caught by surprise by the announcement in the middle of ongoing negotiations.

"We were shocked and disappointed to receive a call late this afternoon informing us of Google's drastic action," said PRS for Music Chief Executive Steve Porter.

PRS said in a statement it was "outraged" on behalf of consumers and songwriters by YouTube's move.

"Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing," the London-based organisation said in a statement.

The PRS statement pointed out that Google, YouTube's parent, saw its revenue grow to $5.7 billion in the last quarter. The figure will likely be juxtaposed against the fast dwindling fortunes of the music industry.

Some rightsholders argue that the video site should pay a higher fee or share more advertising revenue since many users come to watch their music videos.

The move to block British users access to artists' music videos and user-created videos, which feature licensed music, will take effect on Monday evening British time.

The commercial relationship between YouTube and PRS is separate from YouTube's relationship with major record companies. Those relationships have also been strained at times.

Record companies such as Vivendi's Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group own rights to the sound recordings and music videos. In December, rights talks between YouTube and Warner Music broke down after they failed to agree to payment terms, leading to thousands of videos being taken down.

YouTube and the music industry have had an awkward but mutually beneficial partnership. On one hand, label executives acknowledge that the popular video site is the way many people discover new music especially as the power of radio and MTV wanes.

But at the same time with plunging CD sales, the labels hope that YouTube, which benefits from millions of visitors seeking music videos, will serve both as a promotional outlet and a key revenue source.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Derek Caney)

This will obviously include all of Pearl Jam's music videos and fan videos using their music.

gndcd402_

hmmm...i wonder if i would change my video description from music to something else would they still be viewable?

PJ Fan est. 1990

seems like the internet is becoming sectioned off into different laws for different countries, which sucks, cyberspace is like a completely different universe and i don't feel that the people of our land and our universe should govern something that belongs to every single computer owning citizen of the world who has internet access...i mean yeah blocking porn for minors is one thing and outlawing child pornography as well is another thing, but i feel that the internet should be used at the discretion of the person using it...the way i see it the internet is a private place that can be viewed publicly...much like someone can look at your house and be able to see the inside through the window (i don't mean like a creepy peeping tom, but like glancing at your house and they can see the inside)...

Thoughts_Arrive

Greedy pigs.

Jeremys Spoken

sooo instead of uk.youtube.com can they just use http://www.youtube.com???

tvismyfriend

Jeremy's Spoken wrote:

sooo instead of uk.youtube.com can they just use http://www.youtube.com???

Sites can block foreign ip's from viewing videos.

smg97791

Can't these greedy pigs think for a second about the BENEFIT that sites like youtube give the artist and record company? Youtube is the MTV of the 21st century. You have to be an idiot not to realize the role MTV had on album sales in the 80s and 90s. Album sales is about making music and advertising that music. Killing youtube is killing your avenue of video advertisement, now that MTV isn't showing videos. These fuckers see a revenue stream and immediately think how they can maximize their share from that stream. I hope the artists these assholes represent experience a serious drop in album sales and end up washing cars in a few years.

Thoughts_Arrive

Why has the whole world turned so greedy, why?

JordyWordy

gndcd402_ wrote:

hmmm...i wonder if i would change my video description from music to something else would they still be viewable?

you're the guy that like a BILLION live pj performances! legend! uve got some great stuff