Thursday 3 September 2009

YouTube end PRS dispute - Music Videos Return to UK YouTube

Music videos will return to the British version of YouTube.com after the streaming site reached an agreement with songwriters' group PRS for Music.

The site's owners Google and PRS for Music resolved a long-running dispute over revenues, which saw music videos pulled off YouTube in the UK in March.

A new multi-million pound deal has now been reached, which will last until June 2012, and sees YouTube pay the PRS, which is responsible for paying out royalties to composers, publishers and songwriters, a lump sum of money – as opposed to the usual pay-per-view model.

Tens of thousands of music videos will return to the site from today onwards, taking approximately a week to restore all the lost material, plus all the latest music videos to have been released from the major music labels with which YouTube has commercial deals.

PRS for Music said it was pleased an agreement had been reached but neither side would reveal details of the deal.

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