YouTube launching music subscription, will pull indie bands

As YouTube is preparing to launch its own competing music streaming subscription service, many indie bands' music videos will likely disappear from the website.

Musicians such as Adele and the Arctic Monkeys could soon be blocked "in a matter of days" due to a lack of a deal between some of the indie labels and YouTube, chief of content and business operations Robert Kyncl said, reports the Financial Times.

So far YouTube has deals with record labels who control 95 percent of the music industry, with the rest to have their videos pulled until YouTube gets a deal.

"While we wish that we had 100 per cent success rate, we understand that is not likely an achievable goal and therefore it is our responsibility to our users and the industry to launch the enhanced music experience," Kyncl said.

According to Billboard, YouTube and the indie labels haven't been able to agree on a deal due to royalty issues and the Google-owned company doesn't want music that isn't available both for free and on the premium subscription level to be viewable.

The indie labels, however, feel that the licensing deal is unfair and there are worries that the free service that will be available to users could hurt the labels as people could possibly move away from paid subscriptions.

They also feel YouTube is abusing its market position due to being owned by Google and have even filed a complaint to the FTC over the new music service.

The fee-based subscription will allow users to watch or listen to music on YouTube without having to deal with advertisements and will allow them to be viewed offline. The service will likely be launched later this summer once it has been tested internally.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com

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