You Tube is about to launch a music subscription service. We don’t know the date yet. But not everybody is celebrating the occasion.
Independent record labels and acts are upset, to put it in kid friendly terms. There’s a dispute going on. Indie labels, such as Beggars Group and Google’s mega streaming video service can’t agree on royalty terms or existing terms of free service. You Tube leaders say they can’t offer free service and pay indies royalties at the same time. Therefore, indie videos are being taking down. You Tube leads the world in free streaming music and video service. Since it’s inception in the mid 2000s, they’ve paid over one billion dollars to music-right holders.
And it’s not just your local garage or nightclub band’s video that’s being pulled off You Tube. Major acts like Adele are being affected due to the dispute. Indie labels are skeptical. They argue they get far better treatment at rival digital services. This dispute is going to be settled eventually. There’s too much money to be made and too much potential. The indies may not get what they want out of this. But a little something is better than a lot of nothing. You Tube may have to shell out more cash, but look at the alternative. Keep in mind they’ve literally given out billions for royalties. Now they can’t give out more to these independent labels? So they’d rather cut off artists’ videos altogether, and the fan base is the one that suffers most. Come on people! These guys are executives of businesses and have people’s careers and dreams on the line. This isn’t some 4th grade playground dispute over whose captain of the kickball team. How should this dispute be settled?