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On Monday, Google said it will block all YouTube music videos to British users because it has been unable to reach a rights deal with the main songwriters' royalty collector.According to Google, which owns YouTube, PRS for Music, which collects royalties for nearly 60,000 composers, was asking it to pay "many, many times" more than the previous licensing agreement that has now expired.In his blog, Patrick Walker, director of video partnerships, Europe, Middle East and Africa, noted: "The costs are simply prohibitive for us—under PRS' proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback. In addition, PRS is unwilling to tell us what songs are included in the license they can provide so that we can identify those works on YouTube—that's like asking a consumer to buy an unmarked CD without knowing what musicians are on it."PRS for Music is similarly distressed by the outcome. In a statement, PRS said, "Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing." Google had revenue of $5.7 billion in the last quarter of 2008.Walker also said that YouTube was working on more ways to compensate musicians and other rights-holders; for example, the company recently introduced a click-to-buy feature allowing users to purchase song downloads.
