YouTube has recently made the decision to block nearly all of its music videos to UK visitors, after failed negotiation attempts with British Royalty collectors for the PRS (Performing Rights Society) for music. Both are holding each other to blame for this decision, but they are still hoping to come to an urgent agreement.
The result of this decision is going to leave a great number of users in the UK very disappointed, and is one of the key key selling points to YouTube’s service. However, Patrick Walker of YouTube said that their hands are simply tied by PRS, and that all videos will be blocked until they can strike up a new contract that is “economically sustainable” for both parties.
Patrick Walker said:
“But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before,” he wrote. “The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS’s proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback.”
YouTube isn’t the only company that has struggled with licence agreements in the UK. The popular music genome project “Pandora” also blocked UK viewers after being unable to afford the licensing costs.
When PRS were asked to comment, they seemed more interested in talking about how much revenue YouTube were making per quarter than actually explaining the justification behind their changes in costs. PRS most likely want to increase their costs because they see how much money YouTube is making with their videos. What they must also consider is that YouTube is a great service for the music industry, helping to get as much exposure as possible to their artists. If the videos are removed from YouTube permanently, then users will go elsewhere and often to illegal downloads where both parties will miss out on money making opportunities.
