YouTube Signs Licensing Deal With Independent Labels
When YouTube announced plans to launch a music subscription service, the company faced resistance from the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN)—an organization that represents independent labels around the world. WIN accused YouTube of lowballing labels and threatening to block content. Following a months-long dispute, YouTube and the indies have finally come to an agreement, The New York Times reports.
YouTube has reportedly signed a licensing deal with Merlin, the global new media rights licensing agency that was started by WIN. Terms of the agreement are currently unknown. WIN initially charged that YouTube wasn’t competing with existing rates by services like Spotify and Rdio.
Though details of the subscription service have yet to surface, the company was reportedly looking to offer a ”premium tier” that would give full access to YouTube and Google’s music catalog. Ad-free and offline listening were also reported to be perks of the paid tier.
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