Neil Young Supports Warner Music Against YouTube

Neil Young has voiced his support for Warner Music Group’s policy of muting and deleting music videos on Youtube, after negotiations between the two media giants failed. We’ve covered Warner’s draconian tactics in the past, and now Neil Young defends that Warner needs to be better compensated by posting the following on his site:

“You Tube was in its fledgling stages when Warner made an early deal to work with them. Today, other labels have made more lucrative deals for their artists at You Tube.”

However, Google/YouTube spokesperson Chris Dale responded that “it is the record labels’ responsibility to represent and pay their artists,” not theirs. But Young says that there need to be certain norms for licensing deals and “it is time for industry-wide standards of artist compensation on the web.”

Every time a deal breaks down, videos get removed, and music gets muted. The consumer, in other words, is getting the raw end of the (failed) deal. How needy is Warner Music? Are they just trying to extort as much as they possibly can? Without solid numbers, we can’t tell. But if music is readily available for free elsewhere, how much is Warner actually achieving by removing licensed content from YouTube? And what does this reveal about Neil Young?

Photo via morethings.com
Source: Wired