August 18, 2011 9:40 AM ET
YouTube have ended a four-year legal battle with over 3,000 independent music publishers by agreeing to pay licensing fees to the National Music Publishers Association. The Google-owned company's contract with the NMPA will cover synchronization rights on the behalf of songwriters and will extend to cover versions of their songs. Songwriters will get a cut of advertising revenue tied to videos featuring their music, but as of yet, the terms of the royalty payments have not been disclosed.
Photos: Random Notes
The NMPA have agreed to drop its class-action lawsuit against YouTube. The organization had filed the suit in 2007 claiming that the site enabled infringement of songwriters' rights. Though the NMPA agreement includes a wide range of artists, the arrangement will not cover music from the four major publishing houses owned by EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony, who all have separate licensing contracts with YouTube.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
-
-
-
-
POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix
Picks From Around the Web
blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter
X
We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.
Most Popular
