UK Youtube viewers can once again watch their favorite music videos, thanks to a deal with PRS Music, the creators collecting society. PRS collects and doles out performance royalties for music played in clubs, pubs, restaurants, etc., and, of course, online. In March 2009, Youtube and PRS failed to negotiate an agreement by which artists would be compensated for their work broadcast on the website, with Youtube claiming that PRS was being greedy, and PRS accusing Youtube of not giving adequate remuneration to the creative types. Adding fuel to PRS's fire, Pete Waterman famously claimed that during the whole 'RickRolling' craze he received an £11 royalty check for Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' despite the video receiving over 100 million hits. All this resulted in the public losing out, as Youtube blocked all premium music content on the site rather than give a dime to PRS. In an age when MTV and VH1 show more reality schlock than videos and an increasing number of consumers catch their videos online, this meant that many clips would remain unseen or have their audience severely reduced. The fewer video views, the fewer sales, etc etc until the music industry implodes and we're all banging on pots and pans in our basements.
It didn't get quite that far, of course, but both Youtube and PRS wised up and agreed to a 'lump sum' settlement that will return premium music content to UK computer screens and mobiles.
Now. Lets everyone play nice, shall we?
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