YouTube Reaches Major Music Deal

The changing tides of fortune in the music industry have propelled YouTube to a position of power in the music market. YouTube has become the place where people go to discover new music and listen to their favorite artists.  Now YouTube is extending its global reach even further through new agreements with two major players in the worldwide music publishing industry.  YouTube has made international agreements with the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) and Universal Music Publishing. The agreement will also make it easier to track what is popular throughout the world, as Billboard Magazine has begun to factor YouTube plays into the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The new agreement will allow YouTube to broadcast music published by UMP and SACEM to countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  The agreement allows for YouTube to distribute music to 127 new countries in total.  Notably, Germany is not one of the countries involved in the distribution agreement, due to a dispute concerning intellectual property and copyright law. The dispute with YouTube has been ongoing since April 2009.

This new agreement is just one of the many ways that YouTube is increasing its power in the music industry. It was previously reported by Billboard that UMP was joining forces with two major YouTube networks. Maker Studios and Fullscreen, Inc., will be able to use content from UMP in videos.  In return, UMP will receive a percentage of the revenue from the ads that are played in conjunction with the videos.

It was also recently announced that  YouTube would be renewing a deal with Vevo.  Vevo is a music video streaming site.  The largest of such sites on the internet, Vevo co-owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.  The deal is said to possibly be worth up to $50 million.