YouTube Will Remove Any Artist That Refuses To Sign Licensing Agreement

Last year, YouTube threatened that they would start pulling videos from independent artists and labels due to a licensing issues. The dispute began when disagreements over royalties, of course, weren’t promised/documented. Towards the end of last year, it seemed as if YouTube was a step closer to resolving this issue when they began signing licensing deals with small independent labels.

However, it looks like YouTube has been serious the whole time, and now looks to finally put an end to all this bullshit. If indie labels/artists refuse to sign on to the new music service agreement, YouTube reps will have those channels blocked and removed from their platform. In order to explain the details of this process, independent artist Zoë Keating shared her personal experience with Digital Music News:

My Google Youtube rep contacted me the other day. They were nice and took time to explain everything clearly to me, but the message was firm: I have to decide. I need to sign on to the new Youtube music services agreement or I will have my Youtube channel blocked.

This new music service agreement covers my Content ID account and it includes mandatory participation in Youtube’s new subscription streaming service, called Music Key, along with all that participation entails. Here are some of the terms I have problems with:

1) All of my catalog must be included in both the free and premium music service. Even if I don’t deliver all my music, because I’m a music partner, anything that a 3rd party uploads with my info in the description will be automatically included in the music service too.

2) All songs will be set to “montetize”, meaning there will be ads on them.

3) I will be required to release new music on Youtube at the same time I release it anywhere else. So no more releasing to my core fans first on Bandcamp and then on iTunes.

4) All my catalog must be uploaded at high resolution, according to Google’s standard which is currently 320 kbps.

5) The contract lasts for 5 years.

To be honest, this frustrates me as an individual, the amount of dope artists that get discovered each day on YouTube is endless. Fuck you YouTube, you corrupt bullshit business.