by Search Copywriter
D. Warburton
D. Warburton
A new licensing agreement between YouTube and PRS for Music has brought a six-month royalties dispute to an end, and will see thousands of previously blocked videos being restored to the video sharing site. This news comes just as a new disagreement erupted between record labels and internet users, bringing the future of file sharing and digital music into question.YouTube has long been the site of conflicts over copyright infringement, and this most recent campaign began when the online video site accused the PRS of enforcing extortionate royalty charges for the viewing of music videos online. The new licensing settlement promises hope for other disputes between the music industry and websites, which threaten to derail the digital music industry.
The Guardian reports that a high profile coalition of songwriters, musicians and producers has spoken out against business secretary Lord Mandelson's proposal to reintroduce the threat of withdrawing the Broadband services of users found to be downloading music illegally, as detailed in the government's Digital Britain report released in June.
The alliance includes the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) and the Music Producers Guild (MPG), and counts famous alumni such as Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn among its supporters. The alliance opposes the government's plan as an expensive measure, which it claims is backed up by "little support from logic."
The alliance's press statement explains: "We vehemently oppose the proposals being made and suggest that the stick is now in danger of being way out of proportion to the carrot. The failure of 30,000 US lawsuits against consumers and the cessation of the pursuit of that policy should be demonstration enough that this is not a policy that any future-minded UK government should pursue."
The business secretary's proposal has also been vehemently opposed by privacy campaigners, service providers and MPs, who have accused Lord Mendelson of being influenced by secret meetings with figures from the music and film industries. Unsurprisingly, the measure is being supported by the BPI, the organisation representing record labels, which states that the seven million illegal file sharers in the UK are costing the music industry an estimated £200 million each year.
File sharing has been a significant issue for the past decade. Despite exaggerated lawsuits and high profile trials, very little progress has been made towards a general consensus on how to manage the issue. The agreement between YouTube and the PRS demonstrates that compromises can be reached if both parties find their demands satisfied, and perhaps spells hope for the future of legal file sharing.
