Independent record labels have slammed YouTube over their new streaming subscription service claiming that the deal only caters to major record labels.
YouTube, which was long ago acquired by Google has become a huge source for online streaming music and with over 1 billion visitors per month, the company is looking to take advantage of this.
To do so, YouTube has reached an agreement with major rights holders that would make ad-free music available to consumers for a small fee. While this would be great for the big record labels, the smaller, indie record labels feel that they will not get the exposure they deserve.
A number of indie record labels came out against plans for YouTube to implement this fee based streaming service saying that their artists were refusing to sign on, not just because of decreased exposure but also because YouTube was not fairly compensating them.
The Music Producers Guild released an official statement on the matter, slamming Google and accusing them of abusing the market.
“With regards to the recent dispute between YouTube and independent labels and the unfavourable terms which You[T]ube seeks, without negotiation, to impose upon independent record labels, the Music Producers Guild is deeply concerned about Google’s apparent abuse of its monopoly and associated market power and the adverse affect this will have on the wider industry and funds available for innovative and creative content production in the future.”
YouTube released their own statement too which went something like,- “we’re paying the independent labels fairly and consistently with the industry.” Yet, they failed to disclose the exact details of the agreement.
Independent labels account for roughly a third of the music industry’s market share and it is not yet clear if they will succumb to YouTubes request.
YouTube has already begun removing content owned by labels that did not agree to the fee based ad-free deal.