Major Record Label To Begin Removing Videos From YouTube

If you want to watch videos of Madonna, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, and countless others on YouTube, you better move fast. Citing the collapse of negotiations regarding compensation, Warner Music Group announced on Saturday (Dec. 20) that it would begin pulling its music from the popular video-sharing site.

"We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists’ content to the site," the record company giant said in a prepared statement. "Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide."

Executives at YouTube have spent much effort in the past year developing revenue streams for the site, in part to meet the demands of content partners such as Warner Music. Negotiations regarding how to best split those revenues broke down on Friday.

In addition to songs by WMG artists, the affected content includes material owned by Warner Music’s publishing arm (Warner/Chappell), which controls copyright on such songs as "Happy Birthday to You" and "Winter Wonderland." The withdrawal of material could also extend to clips that feature amateurs performing cover versions of copyrighted songs.

YouTube has agreements with other record labels, and is in the process of re-negotiating those deals as well. As of this writing (Dec. 22), the bulk of Warner Music Group-related videos remained accessible on YouTube. WMG still makes videos available to MTV, MySpace Music, and other content sites.

"Despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain their innovative agreements," YouTube said in a statement posted on its blog, addressing the complicated nature of music licensing. "Sometimes, if we can't reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners." --Russell Hall
source:gibson.com