YouTube has signed a new long-term deal with the top two music labels, promising stronger policing of user uploads of copyrighted songs and paving the way for a new paid service after two years of difficult negotiations.
According to reports, YouTube has signed deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Part of the deal has to do with allowing YouTube to continue to host uploaded videos featuring songs by the labels, but there’s also a clear intent of adding more content to the new streaming service.
For years now, YouTube’s been at arms with music labels about whether or not it’s paying enough money to copyright holders for users that listen to songs for free on the website. With the launch of their streaming service in 2018, YouTube will likely make a strong push to convert regular YouTube users to paid Remix subscribers to help strengthen its relationship with these labels.
YouTube is one of the most common ways people all over the world consume music, and one of the most important promotional organs for managers and record labels. Yet the site and its parent company Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., have struggled to persuade consumers to pay for music.
