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YouTube man to chair US music retail trade group
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 5 August 2014
I’ve been distracted by the Edinburgh Fringe for the last few days, so remind me, do we still hate YouTube to its very core, the corrupt, money-grabbing, monopoly-exploiting, artist-shafting, cunts of Armageddon? Or have we decided that, actually, compared to Apple and Amazon, TeamTube are the affable guys of musical techsploitation?
Anyway, whatever you think of YouTube and their dabblings in music, one of its number has been elected Chairman of the board of the US Music Business Association, the trade body for music retail in the States. It’s YouTube Product Manager Fred Beteille who will now lead their board, who MBA President James Donio describes as a “key player in the digital music marketplace”.
Beteille himself said of his new role within the US trade group of entertainment sellers: “I look forward to applying my knowledge to the industry as a whole, ensuring that all of our members and all kinds of music artists are able to take advantage of the latest opportunities around advanced technology, rights management, new business models, and more”.
Beteille’s background is actually more music rights than tech, having started out at American mechanical song rights firm The Harry Fox Agency, and later coming to YouTube via its acquisition of royalties company RightsFlow.
Indie labels over here currently in dispute with YouTube over its new audio service and fearing a rep from the company might rise to the top of the UK’s Entertainment Retailers Association, don’t worry, the video platform isn’t a member. Though sister company Google Play is.
