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http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090310/ap_on_hi_te/eu_britain_youtube
QuoteGoogle Inc. said Monday it will block U.K. users from watching music videos on its popular video-sharing site YouTube after negotiations with Britain's music royalty-collecting body broke down.
Google said it would begin blocking British users starting Monday night. The Internet titan said it knew the move would cause "significant disappointment."
But it said its hand was forced by PRS for Music, which it said is asking for royalties that would cause Google to lose money every time a video was played on YouTube.
"Our previous license from PRS for Music has expired, and we've been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us," Google said in a statement. Until a solution is found, it added, "we will be blocking premium music videos in the UK that have been supplied or claimed by record labels."
PRS for Music, which collects money on behalf of writers and publishers worldwide, said it was outraged by Google's move.
"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," the group said in a statement.
Neither group revealed how much money is at stake in their negotiations.
YouTube has become an increasingly popular destination for record labels squeezed by declining sales for compact discs. The Web site has deals with three of the four major record labels but some rights-holders have balked at their cut of the advertising revenue.
In December, Warner Music pulled all of its music from YouTube, saying the payments it received did not fairly compensate the label or its artists and songwriters.
It was not clear how long the music videos would stay blocked. Both PRS for Music and Google said they hoped their dispute could be resolved quickly.
The video Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love," licensed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment U.K. Ltd., which has garnered more than 83 million hits, was still visible from the U.K. late Monday.
First the economy and now this...how will Brits survive? Have your say!
Given that WMG removed so many music vids back in January, this is just shutting the peephole after the whores are gone.
Quote from: Grinning_Colossus on March 10, 2009, 01:12:35 AM
Given that WMG removed so many music vids back in January, this is just shutting the peephole after the whores are gone.
Who the fuck are you? Identify yourself.
I'm Testy. I was excited by the sudden commotion, but will likely lose interest again in the near future.
Ah.
so what?
there are ways to watch youtube videos when it's not available in your country
Quote from: szmik on March 10, 2009, 01:33:20 AM
so what?
there are ways to watch youtube videos when it's not available in your country
Such as?
All I can think of is overly complex proxy stuff.
There're some sort of proxy sites that remove youtube filters when clicking youtube links, I don't know how it works technically though.
Quote from: garbon on March 10, 2009, 03:00:16 PM
Who would waste that much time for youtube? ???
LOL I just happen to live in a country where half interesting videos comes with such msg and I just stumbled upon the remedy.
Frankly I don't remember when was the last time I watched Youtube, probably in January.
Quote from: szmik on March 10, 2009, 03:07:47 PM
Frankly I don't remember when was the last time I watched Youtube, probably in January.
Oh okay. ::)
I think being British (well, mostly English) just plain sucks.
Everything is expensive, the Economy is doomed and the Government is made up of a bunch of retarded fools.
No wonder so many Brits fled to Spain these last few years,