STEWART COPELAND

Not sure how this will affect our UK brethren.

March 09, 2009 | Posted by: Patrick Walker | Permalink

YouTube, the UK and the Performing Rights Society for Music
We have invested a lot of time and effort trying to ensure that our community can find and enjoy the music they love, and we have strong partnerships with three of the four largest record labels in the world, as well as many independent labels. But copyrights in music can get pretty complicated. For example, there may be several different copyrights in a single music video, controlled by different organizations with different interests. The visual elements and the sound recording of a music video are typically owned by a record label, while the music and lyrics of the song being performed are owned separately by one or more music publishers. These publishers often designate organizations called collecting societies to issue licenses and collect royalties on their behalf. In the UK we've had a license from the collecting society called PRS for Music to make music videos provided by our record label partners available to our users in the UK.

Our previous license from PRS for Music has expired, and we've been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us. There are two obstacles in these negotiations: prohibitive licensing fees and lack of transparency. We value the creativity of musicians and songwriters and have worked hard with rights-holders to generate significant online revenue for them and to respect copyright. But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before. The costs are simply prohibitive for us -- under PRS's proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback. In addition, PRS is unwilling to tell us what songs are included in the license they can provide so that we can identify those works on YouTube -- that's like asking a consumer to buy an unmarked CD without knowing what musicians are on it.

We're still working with PRS for Music in an effort to reach mutually acceptable terms for a new license, but until we do so we will be blocking premium music videos in the UK that have been supplied or claimed by record labels. This was a painful decision, and we know the significant disappointment it will cause within the UK. And to be clear, this is not an issue with the record labels, with most of whom we have strong relationships.

While negotiations continue, we'll still be working to create more ways to compensate musicians and other rights-holders on YouTube. In addition to various advertising options, we recently introduced a click-to-buy feature that enables fans to purchase downloads of their favorite songs. We're also proud of our Content ID tools that help rights owners identify their content and even use the power of our community to increase advertising and revenue potential.

We will continue to seek partnerships that benefit our community, music publishers, music labels and, of course, musicians and songwriters, and we will work hard with anybody who shares this commitment. We hope that professional music videos will soon be back on YouTube for our users in the UK to enjoy, and if and when that time comes, you can be sure that you'll be the first to know.

Yours,
Patrick Walker
Director of Video Partnerships, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Hmm. This has been bubbling under for a while. A classic case of how to square the circle. There is a hell of a lot of music on youtube. Initially I think that the corporates were relaxed about it - free promo. They have been a lot less relaxed about it recently. Additionally, just like file sharing sites, youtube is arguably now providing for free what people used to purchase, even for very low key artists. I'm sure it is taking income from people who need it to pay the rent.

I'm not shocked that the PRS hasn't come to an agreement - they aren't the most flexible or forward thinking organisation, in my outdated experience of them. That said, I can understand why they are kicking up rough.

No idea how this could be resolved, but perhaps what this issue needs is a high profile 'Oh Shit! What do we do now?' debate.

If I type The Police into youtube I now can no longer watch virtually all the music video's as they are not available in my country. I can watch bootleg concert performances and some stuff that people have uploaded after recording it off their tv. In a way it is kind of tantalising as you click on all this stuff only to find it is unavailable to you.

However, I have no problem watching the same music video's on www.last.fm

I think youtube need to resolve the issue quickly or else we shall all just bookmark another site where listening/watching music is available to us.

I do not own an Ipod and I do not download, so I do not file share or even want to download tracks for free, if I want music I buy a CD. But I do listen to music online using youtube, last or myspace before I buy as the type of music I like is not played on mainstream UK radio.

Lisa

This news story has progressed apparently, and they may come to an agreement before too long.