http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8234125.stmMusic videos are once more available to YouTube viewers in the UK after the streaming site reached an agreement with songwriters' group PRS for Music.
In March, YouTube blocked thousands of music videos to UK users, after it failed to reach agreement over fees.
YouTube, owned by Google, is paying an undisclosed lump sum to PRS, backdated until January and lasting until 2012.
PRS for Music said it was pleased an agreement had been reached but neither side would reveal details of the deal.
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BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said both sides needed to get the music videos back online. Our correspondent explained that YouTube wants to become the venue for all kinds of online content, while the songwriters know that revenue from the internet must play an ever bigger part in their income.
A spokesman for PRS for Music, formerly known as the Performing Rights Society, said: "It is a lump sum deal which seems to work for YouTube's business model and offers recompense for our 60,000 members. We can be friends again."
A spokesman for YouTube said that the "tens of thousands" of videos which had disappeared "will come back over the next few days".
'Complex beast' Alongside it will be new material as YouTube signs partnerships with other record labels and guest editors introducing their favourite videos. The deal had taken such a long time to be hammered out because YouTube was a "complex beast", he said.
In the UK, PRS for Music acts as a collecting society on behalf of member publishers for licensing fees relating to use of music.
At the start of the row, Patrick Walker, managing director of broadcast and online at YouTube told the BBC that PRS was seeking a rise in fees "many, many factors" higher than the previous agreement. He said that the two were "so far apart" that YouTube had no choice but to remove content while negotiations continued.
But at the time, Steve Porter, head of PRS, said he was "outraged... shocked and disappointed" by the decision. He said the move "punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent".
The Music Publishers Association (MPA) joined with PRS urging Google to rethink, while Lord Carter, who was the UK's Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting, also waded into the debate. Giving evidence before the Business Select Committee, the minister said he suspected a degree of "commercial posturing on the part of both parties" but said the row was indicative of a wider issue.
YouTube is the world's most popular online video site but has been under increased pressure to generate more revenue since its purchase by Google for $1.65bn (then £875m) in 2006. Services such as Pandora.com, MySpace UK and Imeem have also had issues securing licence deals in the UK in the past 12 months.
There's a couple of very interesting quotes in that article:
""PRS was seeking a rise in fees "many, many factors" higher"" "punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent".I wonder if the PRS learnt from that exercise that greed doesn't pay ....... I doubt it.
