Starting internal tests of subscription service but faces accusation of 'catastrophic error of judgement'

Stuart Dredge and Dominic Rushe
Tuesday 17 June 2014 15.03 BST

Independent artists could disappear from YouTube "in a matter of days" after the Google video service confirmed it was dropping content from independent labels that have not signed up for its upcoming subscription music service.

YouTube is about to begin testing the new service – which will charge people to watch and listen to music without ads, and download songs to their mobile devices – within the next few days, initially within Google.

The company's head of content and business operations, Robert Kyncl, told the Financial Times that the service – previously rumoured to be called YouTube Music Pass – will launch more widely later in the year.

His confirmation that YouTube will block videos from labels that do not sign licensing deals for the new premium tier will be hugely controversial among indie labels, with trade body WIN already filing a complaint to the European Commission about its negotiating strategy.

"While we wish that we had 100% success rate, we understand that is not likely an achievable goal and therefore it is our responsibility to our users and the industry to launch the enhanced music experience," said Kyncl, claiming that YouTube has signed up labels representing 90% of the music industry.

Independent labels are likely to disagree. Their licensing agency Merlin estimates that indies collectively account for a 32.6% market share of the recorded music industry's sales and streams.

Contacted by The Guardian following his comments, WIN's chief executive Alison Wenham was blunt in her response. "They have suffered a simple but catastrophic error of judgement in misreading the market," said Wenham, who had organised a press conference earlier in the month to protest at YouTube's plans.

Wenham said YouTube was "setting itself up for failure" and only a small number of independent labels would agree to its terms.

"We have tried and will continue to try to help YouTube understand just how important independent music is to any streaming service and why it should be valued accordingly. Music fans want a service that offers the complete range of music available. This is something that companies such as Spotify and Deezer do, both of whom have excellent relationships with the independent music sector," she said.

WIN claims that the company has signed lucrative licensing deals with major labels Universal, Warner and Sony, while demanding that independent labels sign up to inferior terms or face having their videos blocked from YouTube's free service.

“Our goal is to continue making YouTube an amazing music experience, both as a global platform for fans and artists to connect, and as a revenue source for the music industry,” a Google spokesman said. He said the subscription-based service would bring new revenue streams “in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars YouTube already generates for them each year. We are excited that hundreds of major and independent labels are already partnering with us.”

Wenham's criticism echoes a claim made at the event by musician Billy Bragg, who said "I don’t know why they’ve opened this hornet’s nest right now, apart from corporate hubris. I don’t think they realise what a stupid thing they’ve done."

Artists including Adele, Arctic Monkeys and Jack White could see their videos taken down. The site has become a key promotional outlet for independent labels of all sizes in recent years.

YouTube attracts more than 1bn monthly viewers, with music one of its biggest categories. Its upcoming premium music subscription tier will compete with Spotify, Deezer and Napster among other services, including Apple-owned Beats Music and Google's own Google Play Music All Access.

Independent labels have long complained that they deserve more respect from digital music services negotiating licensing deals, and set up Merlin to strike deals on their behalf.

The agency has remained silent throughout the recent arguments about YouTube's planned new service, although its chief executive Charles Caldas criticised the company at an industry conference in late April.

Referring to an earlier quote from Bragg suggesting that musicians unhappy about royalties paid by Spotify should be "marching to YouTube central with flaming pitchforks", Caldas said: "I can’t say Billy’s right, but I can say that he’s not wrong."

The move comes as Amazon too has begun to flex its muscles in ways that limit the content its customers can receive. Amazon is delaying shipments and refused pre-orders for some titles from Hachette, publisher of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, and home to David Baldacci, Stephen Colbert, David Foster Wallace and others.

It has also pulled pre-orders for forthcoming Warner Home Video features, including international blockbuster The Lego Movie, 300: Rise of an Empire, Winter’s Tale and Transcendence.


Source : http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/17/youtube-indie-labels-music-subscription

 

That really sucks because I listen to more independent stuff than any of that mainstream crap that the labels are peddling to the mindless robots of planet Earth so I'm apparently shit out of luck. As if there was any doubt concerning what Google was about. What a bunch of money grubbing whores.

Be evil.
​

 

Who the fuck is going to watch Youtube anymore if they gonna change "the story" like that? They should be thankful with what they already got from us, but if they start pushing our pockets, they will gonna lose even what they had till now.
People is going to get sick of it (at least the ones who's really using their brains).
Youtube staff should keep close their audience, not to turn into a sell-out company which loves their sponsors more than their audience.
They should remember the fact that because of us, THE AUDIENCE, they are successful right now.
God... i'm so pissed off..

 

They never can get me in their evil Web! *yes*

 

My first though upon reading this drivel of an idea from u tube was this great old song by Tennessee Ernie Ford:

16 Tons

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

 

RIP youtube 2005 - 2014, gone but never forgotten

 

superliquid23
Your post reminds me of this remix by Daniel B. of Front 242 fame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeooE03RpFY​

 

So.....
when is vimeo gonna be intergrated in the forums? *yes*

 

If they really go down this road, indie labels and artists should simply start their own site and channel and get out of that monopoly mindset.
I mean, that's just what youtube did once.

Peter Sunde at a democracy conference:
"How to do a revolution of the internet? Would you start a Facebook group to stop Facebook?"
.

 

I Know A Lot of Indie Labels They use Vimeo More Than you tube
IF youtube took that road they will lose a lot of money afterwards they will get back to the old youtube version but when they do
they will find Vimeo and other video streaming website taking over

even if they do that , we will see another website broadcasting the content of youtube for free LOL

 

You are exactly right. Too many artists are too dependent on external sites, fb, ig, sc, yb, etc. It's great to u/l stuff to these sites, but it just distracts visitors from why they went to the site in the first place, and that's to view and/or hear the material of the artist that brought them there in the first place. Everyone needs to have their own website. One's own website is his/her own digital business card. No one would write their contact info on the back of someone else's business card and hand it out to potential clients?

 

So long youtube, shame we have to end our relationship this way.
The grass is not always greener...

 

Even if they move to Vimeo, would they make more money than they currently do on Youtube? That is the question.

Situation reeks of bullshit all in all though. I certainly wont be subscribing to any youtube services ever. I hope it flops big time, but it's not as if Google will be losing much money even if it did flop, so I don't know that it would help any. This entire idea was poisonous from the beginning, because it sets a major precedent for their Youtube service. They should have just kept it to the ad revenue, now they are trying to merge their staple products like youtube with their money generators like google play... it's just sick.