After prolonged, unsuccessful licensing negotiations with YouTube, Warner Music Group has demanded the removal of all its music videos currently uploaded to YouTube. Warner’s previous licensing agreement, which had expired several months prior, was similar to that of the other major record labels; YouTube paid a fee per play of any given label video as well as a share of advertising revenue. This decision affects not only official WMG videos, but any user-uploaded videos that include music owned by the label.
If Universal Music Group’s $100 million in revenue from online music videos since 2005 is any indication of the profit Warner was (or could be) making, they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot here. This is perhaps all the more obvious when considering their net loss of tens of millions of dollars last year.
What do you think?
Warner Music Removes Its Videos From YouTube as Licensing Talks Stall [NYTimes]
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