YouTube will be deleting independent artists from the website in a few days.
It is being reported that the media sharing giant will be removing indie artists of all genres from its website.
According to Forbes.com, some of your favorite videos may be removed forever from YouTube.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, has signed licensing deals with most of the music industry’s biggest distributors, however, independent labels are not willingly to accept the terms Google has set up for them.
With YouTube building a subscription-paid-service, independent artists are being faced with two options, sign licensing deals or have your content removed from the website.
“While we wish that we had a 100% success rate, we understand that is is not likely an achievable goal and therefore it is our responsibility to our users and the industry to launch the enhanced music experience”, says Robert Kyncl, VP and Global Head of Business at YouTube.
The new service is called MusicPass and is intended to change the way people use YouTube. Users will be able to download music similar to Spotify, iTunes Radio, and Amazon’s recently added Prime Music.
Services such as Spotify, iTunes Radio, and Amazon’s Prime Music pay artists .06 cents every time a song is played. However, when an independent artists uploads their song in a video format onto YouTube, and signed a YouTube Partnership program, they are able to make more money per video view due to advertisements.
What will this mean for the future of the music industry and artists such as Radiohead who are signed independent labels? Either sign a deal with a major distribution company like Warner, Sony, or Universal, or, make music videos for every song (video anthology) like Beyonce did in her last album, B-Day.
At the end of the day, the music industry has been hit hard by piracy. Since then the industry is trying new and innovative ways to reclaim the major foothold it once had. However, this time it is being done at the expense of independent artists. So, just as the music industry is forced to evolve, so are the recording artists.
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