Indie Labels Are Taking Their Dispute with YouTube to the European Commission

Indie music artists and labels are taking a stand against YouTube’s apparent plans for an upcoming music streaming service—or more specifically, the terms YouTube has laid out if independent artists want to be included.

The music service is still under wraps, but it sounds like it’ll be a YouTube version of a Spotify-like model. But while artists have now (admittedly sometimes begrudgingly) accepted the role of streaming services in the contemporary industry scene, those signed to independent labels are less than chuffed with the contracts they’ve received from YouTube.

They’re so unimpressed, in fact, that at a press conference today the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), and European indie association IMPALA, said they will call on the European Commission to take urgent regulatory action on the issue and stop videos being blocked. As Alison Wenham, CEO of WIN, told me on the phone just before the conference, “The independents sector is not historically known for rolling over and having its tummy tickled.”

Here’s the crux of the dispute: According to the above bodies, independent labels have recently been receiving contracts from YouTube that basically tell them to sign up, or get lost altogether. WIN and IMPALA state that the contracts include “an explicit threat that their [the labels’] content will be blocked on the platform if it is not signed.”

Given the leading role YouTube has established for itself in the music video business, that’s a problem to those that don’t agree with the terms, but don’t want to be wiped off the platform completely. “It’s an essential facility; YouTube has become the de facto, go-to site for video,” Wenham told me.

And with YouTube apparently branching into the streaming market, she said that fears extended beyond the video-sharing site specifically: New competition from YouTube could potentially reduce the income artists are used to getting from other services, and not make it up with their own payment for rights. “I gather that the rates being offered are significantly less,” said Wenham.

She acknowledged that streaming services have in some ways been a boon to independents, allowing users to discover their music without the need for space in record stores and suchlike, but said they “absolutely object to getting second-class treatment for the independent sector.”

Billboard reports that YouTube has negotiated deals with majors like Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros., but are going direct to indie labels rather than working something out with Merlin, the body that usually represents them in rights deals.

A few indie stars themselves joined the press conference to lend their support. In a statement, Billy Bragg said that, “YouTube are shooting themselves in the foot with their attempt to strong-arm independent labels into signing up to such low rates. They're in danger of launching a streaming service that lacks the innovative and cutting edge sounds that independent artists bring. Would music fans be willing to pay for such an inferior product? I don’t think so.”

If the indies are unable to swing the European Commission and YouTube round to their view, they might just have to hope that turns out to be true.