Google may kick indie musicians off YouTube
Jack White performs at the Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark on July 6, 2012. GETTY
Google (GOOG) says it has sealed deals with labels representing 95 percent of recorded in launching a pay music-streaming service. But reaching agreement with independent labels, producers and musicians could provider stickier.
The indies say Google's terms for including their music in the new subscription service are unfair. Playing hardball, Robert Kyncl, YouTube's head of content and business operations, told the Financial Times that the company will begin to block their music videos (paywall) "in a matter of days," with only those who have agreed to the streaming deal allowed to use YouTube's free services.
With the ubiquity of music marketing on the web, those free offerings are a major way consumers learn about new groups and musicians these days. Some of the musicians that could find their work removed include Adele, Arctic Monkeys and Jack White.
"Our goal is to continue making YouTube an amazing music experience, both as a global platform for fans and artists to connect, and as a revenue source for the music industry," Google said in a statement. "We're adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube with this in mind -- to bring our music partners new revenue streams in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars YouTube already generates for them each year."
The company also said it is excited to be partnering with "hundreds of major and independent labels" on the new music service.
Kyncl also told the Financial Times that Google was "paying [labels] fairly and consistently with the industry." However, according to the Worldwide Independent Network, a trade organization of independent music companies, contracts offered to indie artists and labels aren't the same as those offered to the major labels.
Instead, WIN said in a blog post, its members have been presented with standard non-negotiable contracts that the group says "undervalue existing rates in the marketplace" from such streaming services as Spotify and Rdio. WIN members have also allegedly already received termination letters from YouTube.
WIN and two other groups -- the Featured Artists Coalition and European independents associated IMPALA -- have brought their complaints to the European Commission. They argue that YouTube is using market dominance to force the smaller labels into accepting "highly unfavorable terms."
One reason Google is pushing ahead with streaming music is because some of its biggest competitors, Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN), are also moving into the business. Apple bought Beats Electronics and has deals with the three major music labels, Warner Music Group, Sony Music and Universal Music Group.Amazon also started a music service this month. It's free to members of its Amazon Prime shopping club, although the new offering isn't offering music from Universal, the largest of the three big labels.
Amid such stiff competition, Google could suffer if fails to come to terms with independent music companies. Many big names in music start as unknowns before going on to enjoy mainstream success. Apple or Amazon could also erode YouTube's dominance in online videos by creating online hubs for the indie music scene.
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