YouTube music gets silent treatment after licence price hike

Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube is silencing music videos in the UK after negotiations with the Performing Right Society (PRS for Music), which collects licensing fees for artists and labels, failed.

A statement from YouTube said: "Our previous licence 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.

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"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 licence than before."

"The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS' 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 licence they can provide so that we can identify those works on YouTube - that's like asking a consumer to buy a blank CD without knowing what musicians are on it," the statement said.

But a statement from PRS for Music claimed Google doesn't want to pay enough for licensing fees.

A PRS statement said: "PRS for Music is outraged on behalf of consumers and songwriters that Google has chosen to close down access to music videos on YouTube in the UK.

"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."

Royalty fees reportedly caused streaming music service Pandora to pull out of the UK two years ago, and many smaller players in digital media are currently feeling the pain.

Original article: YouTube unplugs music videos in U.K. from CNET News.com