Indie labels angry at YouTube
p2pnet.net News:- “People are getting very pissed off about YouTube’s attitude,” according to a “well-placed source” at one of Britain’s most influential independent record labels.
Quoted by Billboard, “It’s either sign [the contract] or suck it, and we know its not the same deal that the majors have been offered,” he says. “There’s definitely a ground swell that we need to take action.”
On the day Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock, GooTube announced deals with Universal Music Group and Sony BMG modeled after its two-week-old pact Warner Music Group, says the story, going on:
However, “We fully expect to be compensated fairly and on par with the larger companies, we will not accept second rate terms because we are smaller companies,” Simon Wheeler, head of digital at Beggars Group, states.
“If anyone uses our copyrights without a license, we as Beggars, and the independent sector as a whole, take it extremely seriously.”
Merlin, an indie licensing agency which has already struck a deal with MySpace in a deal which takes in Snocap, was announced recently at the MIDEM trade fair in Cannes, “with a remit to negotiate terms with the likes of YouTube,” as Billboard points out.
“The indies represent 30% of the worldwide marketplace,” says Peter Gordon, Thirsty Ear founder and VP of WIN. “The disconnect is that people do not realize our depth and strength and they have not seen that we’ve been unified. It may be a rude awakening, but here we are.”
Also See:
Billboard – Indies Up In Arms Over YouTube, January 30, 2007
deal with MySpace – Merlin, Snocap, MySpace deal, January 22, 2007
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February 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
” Quoted by Billboard, “It’s either sign [the contract] or suck it, and we know its not the same deal that the majors have been offered,”
The sound of histroy repeating itself.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I always thought indie labels actually endorsed infringement of their products in favor of spreading awareness, or at the very least turned a blind eye.
I hope that this doesn’t indicate that the indie market is becoming as tainted as the mainstream market is. That would be a sad day indeed.
February 4th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
The sad thing is that the indies are made to sound like they are championing the cause of all musicians, but they are merely championing the cause of their own elite group: if you aren’t in Merlin or Beggars group, ie, if your label is not in one of those aggregates, then they aren’t championing anything for you. The merely are trying to position themselves as the 5th major and they will at that moment become the same elitist organization that the majors are… nothing wrong with elitist if you’ve got some taste, but the same tired garbage they’ve been shoving down our airwaves and mtvs is dollar driven formula worshipping no-risk junk too often. They are like censors, deciding what music the world will hear. Now this group of indies is not championing musicians’ rights… it is greedily in pursuit of that same power for itself. How utterly disappointing. How do I become a member of that elite Merlin or Beggars group? And the fact that I can sell my music on Amazon at a much better rate (take 45% of my royalties instead of the typical 12% on a major, is little consolation when you consider that the majors will also be steamrolling the world with big promo dollars – give me the promo dollars and marketing machinery any day).