14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube's future and financial viability may be looking up, but it still has a lot of snags to take care of along the way. One issue that was causing UK users a great deal of irritation, while also costing YouTube a pretty penny in potential advertising revenue, was the licensing deal with UK's PRS for Music, which ended in spring and wasn't renewed, as Google was looking for better terms. YouTube and the licensing body have currently reached an agreement that satisfies both parties and YouTube should now return to its regular “programing schedule.”
“YouTube is a popular online video destination, and this new licence continues to support musical talent,” Andrew Shaw, managing director of broadcast and online at PRS for Music, said. “This is an achievement for songwriters, composers and the YouTube community alike and it reinforces the value of our members’ work.”
“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with PRS for Music and look forward to the return of premium music videos to YouTube in the UK where they will join a variety of other content to be enjoyed by our British users,” Patrick Walker, YouTube’s director of video partnerships, added.
Five months ago, all licensed videos were taken down from YouTube after the video site decided to play hard ball with the UK licensing organization Performing Right Society for Music, not agreeing to pay the licensing fees that it viewed as unjustified and that meant that the site would actually be losing money for every streaming.
The tactic seems to have worked, though the new terms of the agreement aren't necessarily all in YouTube's favor, as the parties were forced to reach a mutually acceptable compromise. The exact financial terms of the new licensing deal haven't been disclosed, but it has been revealed that the nature of the agreement has changed, with YouTube paying one large sum of money upfront to cover the entire period for which the deal is valid, up to 2012 and going back to the start of this year.