Los Angeles - Warner Music has begun pulling the videos of
its recording stars from YouTube, after negotiations with the
Google-owned video website stalled over the weekend.
The move could affect clips from artists like Madonna, Metallica
and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but as of Monday morning fans could
still find plenty of material from those stars available.
Warner's decision came against the background of widespread
disappointment in the music industry about the amount of money
YouTube is generating from advertising alongside the music videos.
According to the Wall Street Journal Monday, the major music
companies are making far less money from YouTube than from similar
revenue-sharing agreements with MySpace's and AOL's music sites.
Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony BMG and EMI reached licensing
pacts with YouTube two years ago whereby they receive a small
per-stream fee for each video viewed on YouTube and a share of the
advertising revenue. They are all seeking a greater share of the
money YouTube generates from music videos as digital media becomes an
ever more important part of their revenues.
'We simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and
fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and
publishers for the value they provide,' Warner said in a statement.
USA
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