March 10, 2009

YouTube music videos blocked in U.K.

Per Times Online, YouTube will block British users from watching official videos from all major music publishers and independent labels.

The unprecedented action resulted when PRS for Music, a U.K. licensing body, and the popular video-sharing site owned by Google, Inc. failed to reach an agreement over a royalties dispute on Monday.

YouTube claims that PRS demanded a “prohibitive” hike in license fees, while PRS said that YouTube’s exponential growth meant that musicians were being paid considerably less per viewing under the old licensing agreement, according to the article.

U.K. Twitter users react:


@MyInfoMatrix (Manchester, U.K.): Bad news: shows music industry cannot adapt to the times



@minifig (Streatham, London): So Youtube are going to block all music videos to the UK on the label's request? Unlikely I'll ever see a music video again. I'll cope.



@janefinette (London): YouTube to block UK music videos - shape of things to come?


One Twitterer suggested an alternative to YouTube:


@CJDesignTweets (Undisclosed): YouTube to block music videos? Foolish --- bring on Hulu to the UK


MSN U.K. Entertainment, meanwhile, invited Twitterers to watch videos on their site instead:


@msnents: MUSIC: YouTube block music videos, so watch them on MSN's Music Jukebox... http://events.uk.msn.com/video/music/

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