Paul McCartney, Coldplay, and Lady Gaga are among more than 1,000 acts who've signed a letter asking European leaders to tighten the copyright rules for services like YouTube that offer user-uploaded content. The 1975, ABBA, Christina Aguilera, Billy Bragg, deadmau5, Duran Duran, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Elton John, Carole King, Tove Lo, David Lowery, Bruno Mars, Max Martin, Beth Orton, Mark Ronson, Robert Plant, Ed Sheeran, Pete Townshend, Steven Tyler, and Paul Weller also signed the letter to Jean Claude-Juncker, the president of the European Commission. The June 29 letter, obtained by Pitchfork, said user-upload services were “unfairly siphoning value away from the music community.”
The letter targeted “safe harbor” provisions, which protect services like YouTube from copyright lawsuits over user-uploaded content, saying such provisions create a “value gap.” The letter asked Europe’s to address this gap as part of its upcoming review of copyright legislation. “We urge you to take action now to create a fair playing field for artists and rights owners,” said the letter, coordinated by industry groups IFPI and Impala. “In doing so, you will be securing the future of music for generations to come.”
The letter was first reported in the Financial Times. YouTube told the FT the Google-owned service had paid out $3 billion to the industry. A spokesperson reportedly said the company was collaborating with the industry “to bring more money to artists.” The spokesperson added, “The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube, and choose to leave fan uploads up on the platform and earn money from them 95 per cent of the time.”
Earlier this month, 58 members of European Parliament signed a letter urging the commission to tighten its safe harbor regulations, as Billboard reports. Around the same time, 180 musicians and songwriters including McCartney, King, Taylor Swift, Beck, Jack White, Trent Reznor, and Vince Staples signed a petition urging Congress to update the safe-harbor provisions of U.S. copyright law. In March, Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Katy Perry, Ronson, Townshend, and Bootsy Collins were among hundreds of industry players signing letters calling for similar changes.
Read our exploration of the marketplace for free streaming music, “Is the Era of Free Streaming Music Coming to an End?,” and check out “Here’s Why Musicians Won’t Stand for Illegal Uploads Anymore” over on the Pitch.
via Marc Hogan
