You Tube Expands

Site announces changes to benefit artists

16 May 2009 - Patrick Walker, the Head of Video Partnerships at You Tube, has announced plans for the site's expansion, in a keynote speech at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton.

This comes after all premium music clips on You Tube were blocked following a row with the PRS over artist royalties.

Speaking to 6 Music reporter Jo Youle in Brighton, Patrick said You Tube were looking for new ways for artists to make money through the use of their music on the site.

"We're looking at lots of different ways for artists, labels and different content creators, monetise their content." he said.

"One is through the content they upload directly. We can run advertisements against that. The other is through links that send people off to download tracks through ITunes or Amazon. So we're helping drive off-line sales. And then we're also developing technology that will identify commercial music in user submitted videos.

"The rights owner can determine what they want to do with that video and they can block it or monetise it. The vast majority are monetising it, running advertisements against user submitted videos that include their rights."

However, Patrick believes it is up to the artists and labels to accept that the way people use their music is getting more and more unconventional. He was keen that You Tube still benefitted users, allowing them to be creative with the content:

"They [labels and artists] are really embracing user behaviour. They are beginning to understand that the world has changed. It's not just about consumption of music, it's about all kinds of activity around music - using music to colour your own videos, creating mash-ups and different creative works. And so we're working hard with the industry, taking the business models to the place where the users are most active."

In the UK there is still a block on premium music clips while You Tube negotiate artists fees with the PRS. Patrick explained where they were up to with negotiations:

"With the labels everything is great. We're working very hard to come to an arrangement with PRS and we won't strike a deal unless it makes economic sense. They've been a good partner in the negotiations and we're trying to come up with something that makes sense for everyone involved. Ultimately no-one wins if the videos stay off the service, so we're trying to come up with a win win scenario."

Elizabeth Alker