Warner Music Group and YouTube talking again
Six months ago, talks between Warner Music Group and YouTube over the licensing of the label's music videos broke down, and since then, anyone looking for official clips from acts such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Death Cab for Cutie, and Green Day has likely been disappointed.
That presumably could change as the companies have entered into a new round of talks, according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations. While the companies have spoken several times over the past half year, the most recent discussions are more serious, the sources said.
No deals have been worked out and there's a long way to go before any agreement is reached, said the sources. But they added that the mini-cold war between YouTube and Warner Music may be thawing.
Representatives from Warner Music and YouTube declined to comment.
The two sides parted ways last December as YouTube was trying to renew its licensing agreement for Warner Music's videos.
The impasse was a result of Warner's insistence on a deal that was in line with the terms offered to competitors. Another music industry source said the disagreement between YouTube and Warner Music was much more complex than that but declined to elaborate.
Since December, YouTube has struck licensing deals with all the other three top recording companies, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and EMI. YouTube would likely be glad to once again be able to offer videos from all the majors. Warner artists would likely welcome a return to YouTube and the exposure the Web's No. 1 video site offers.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
I think the larger artists who already have their name out their would be smart to Warner ASAP. They clearly don't get it and probably never will.
My vote of no confidence.
I do sometimes see a "this video was removed due to a copyright claim by WMG", but all that does is make WMG look bad, and those videos just pop up again within minutes anyway.
- by SmoothIAm July 11, 2009 4:10 PM PDT
- I knew WMG would be back. Warner doesn't really have any big new acts today. They only had about 400 million views on their channel not 4 billion views like Universal. Hell, you got home grown Youtube talent like Fred with 400 million views. I wasn't surprise when Youtube told Warner to stick it. Youtube is the new MTV and a lot of Warner acts was really hurt over the last six months not being on Youtube. Especially a lot of RnB acts on Atlantic like Trey Songz, Musiq Soulchild, all the acts on Puffy's Bad Boy Records like Day 26, and DK.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by Renegade Knight July 21, 2009 11:58 AM PDT
- There is a lot of truth to Youtube being the new MTV. That's what my kids use it for. It's how they find new music.
- Like this
-
(8 Comments)