So I recently came across this article written by Eric Beall (from Berklee School of Music) on the current state of negotiations between the music industry and the big wigs at YouTube, and their new owner Google.
http://ericbeall.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/05/30/if-you-havent-got-a-penny-a-half-penny-will-do/
It is really interesting to see how non-cooperative Youtube is as a service to provide standard royalty rates to artists and publishers for their music. For some of you, you will have no idea what I'm talking about - so to break it down very simply: Youtube has been ripping off the music industry ever since its inception. Youtube is essentially a service that provides no material of its own - it is merely a conduit for other artists and creators to share their content through the Youtube platform. Youtube argues that they exist NOT to make money, but provide a service... but then they turn around and sell off their service for a couple billion to Google (who want the service for its popularity) and walk away, not paying musicians or their publishers (who help collect money on behalf of the artists from various royalty sources). So... Youtube is not existing to make money? really... (advertising revenue perhaps?)
Just look at a video like Oren Lavie's innovative video using stop motion photography:
Back in the 80's and 90's Mr. Lavie would have had a hard time as an independent getting this video on MTV (possibly), but with the ease of Youtube - users can post their own video and garner a world wide viewing audience with the help of some viral marketing! So it cannot be denied by Youtube provides a valuable service to developing artists and existing artists (you can now get your video out there and get some attention for it by using the Youtube platform they provide); however Youtube should AT LEAST recognize that music is one of the biggest services that they provide, and least 25-45%.
Take a look at this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html
For some Youtube users, who have a built in audience and have tons of visitors and viewers for their videos, Youtube pays out some of them up to 6 figure numbers for advertising with them... so if Youtube can make this happen for these users, what about the artists and musicians whose videos are being hosted on the site?
I'm not sure what will be the future of royalty payouts with Youtube now that a conglomerate like Google has taken over.. but hopefully they will recognize the value of music a lot more than Youtube's previous owners.
Cheers,
Andrew D.B. Joslyn
