Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris called the two media sharing websites “copyright infringers” and hinted at legal action against them. YouTube has until the end of September to appease Morris and company…
The rhetoric has begun to heat up, according to the story:
“We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars,” Morris told investors Wednesday at a conference in Pasadena.
“How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly,” he said.
Talks with News Corp, the parent of MySpace, are moving along. While Morris may be spoiling for a fight with YouTube, a startup company, he may not have the same eagerness to push as hard against Fox Interactive Media head Ross Levinsohn.
Unlike other labels that view social networking sites, and the exposure they provide, as promotional outlets, Morris and Universal consider them another source of potential licensing revenue. The report noted Universal already demands and receives payment from AOL and Yahoo for playing videos from Universal’s stable of artists.
Mashable blogger Pete Cashmore posted about the issue, and discussed Morris’s aims:
Morris says that MTV built a “multibillion-dollar company on our (music)”, and he doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. Of course, MTV and online videos are both great promotional vehicles for bands – OK Go, for instance, have seen a spike in sales after their videos went viral on YouTube. It’s debatable whether YouTube should be made to pay.
One has to hope that this is yet another crack in the monolithic dominance of the music labels in the recording industry. For example, Arctic Monkeys garnered attention through MySpace, not the promotional efforts of a label. Once someone succeeds in accomplishing a difficult task, the next ones to try will find it easier to do.
Aprs moi, le dluge, perhaps.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
