Well bad news is on the horizion for all those YouTube users in the UK that watch & listen to music videos as they are blocking all premium videos after talks to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Right Society (PRS) broke down and failed.
Thousands of videos will be pulled from YouTube later today which is going to anger millions of reqular users out there.
Heres a short statement from the BBC News website,
”Patrick Walker, YouTube’s director of video partnerships, told that the move was “regrettable”. Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he was “outraged… shocked and disappointed” by YouTube’s decision. In a statement, Mr Porter said the move “punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent”. The PRS has asked YouTube to reconsider its decision as a “matter of urgency”.[poll id="6"]
The body, which represents music publishers, added: “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. “This action has been taken without any consultation with PRS for Music and in the middle of negotiations between the two parties.” Mr Walker told BBC News the PRS was seeking a rise in fees “many, many factors” higher than the previous agreement. He said: “We feel we are so far apart that we have to remove content while we continue to negotiate with the PRS.” “We are making the message public because it will be noticeable to users on the site.” Videos will begin to be blocked from 1800 GMT with the majority of them made inaccessible over the next two days. YouTube pays a licence to the PRS which covers the streaming of music videos from three of the four major music labels and many independent labels.”
The question now on most peoples minds is could this be the begging of the end for all music videos on YouTube? As usual Giz4Geeks will keep you updates with any further developments.
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