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Indie publishers hit out at YouTube at MIDEM

By | Published on Monday 6 June 2016

YouTube

If you thought this year’s MIDEM would go ahead without any YouTube griping, you were much mistaken. And leading the charge against bloody YouTube was the Independent Music Publishers Forum, which held a board meeting and breakfast session at the music industry shindig.

“YouTube’s meagre royalty payments were the main agenda point at the board meeting”, the trade group announced over the weekend. “There was much discussion around the safe harbour provisions which shield YouTube from liability and delegates called on regulators to clarify the terms of the provisions both in the EU and the USA, not just to alleviate the value gap, which has grown wider, but also to level the playing field with other platforms”.

And if you like your YouTube griping credited to actual people, IMPF President Pierre Mossiat stepped forward to state: “Licensed digital music services can’t make enough money to pay composers and authors if they have to compete with services that are shielded by out-of-date safe harbour protections”.

He went on: “YouTube must evolve its current business model or risk jeopardising the creativity and unique culturally diverse source of its content. Let’s sit together therefore with YouTube so that the issue of fair digital remuneration can be properly addressed and solved”.

Safe harbours are also high up the agenda of the next Music 4.5 event – ‘The Politics Of Licensing’ – due to take place in London on 22 Jun. As always, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke with kickstart the proceedings with a story-so-far update, on safe harbours and other licensing issues in an increasingly stream-focused recorded music market.

To get you in the mood, the latest CMU Trends report puts the spotlight on the music industry’s relationship with YouTube, past, present and future, based on the insights presentation Cooke presented at last month’s CMU Insights @ The Great Escape. This one is a free read, while to access all CMU Trends reports, plus the weekly CMU Digest and discounts at CMU Insights courses, why not become one of those premium subscribers for a mere £5 a month? Click here for info.



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