YouTube threatens to block indie record labels

According to The Guardian, Google-owned behemoth YouTube has confirmed that it will begin dropping content from independent record labels that haven't yet signed up to participate in the company's upcoming subscription music service. The removal of affected content could begin "in a matter of days." YouTube, which has more than one billion monthly visitors, will reportedly begin internal testing of its subscription-based offering this month. Trade body WIN has already filed a complaint to the European Commission. Their chief executive Alison Wenham told The Guardian, "[Google] have suffered a simple but catastrophic error of judgement in misreading the market." When contacted for comment by TechCrunch, Google did not specifically address the controversy, rather stating the following: "We're always working on new ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving our partners more opportunities to reach their fans and generate revenue. We'll be adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube with this in mind, and look forward to sharing them with music fans." Regardless, if YouTube acts as threatened, it could start to remove content from artists like Adele, Jack White, the Arctic Monkeys, and thousands of other artists represented by independent labels. Obviously, this could have dramatic consequences in the world of metal, where the majority of artists are represented by indies. Lambgoat reached out to Victory Records owner Tony Brummel, who had the following to say: "We are fine with our content staying on Google for now but at any point, depending on how they treat other indies, we may pull our content. YouTube money is paltry. Google do not respect content creators/owners. Google should be supporting artists and labels appropriately as the content that all of us help create is what powers YouTube. Without music YouTube is worthless." Meanwhile, when reached for comment, Prosthetic Records founder EJ Johantgen said, "I heard some things a few weeks back, but we have not received any notification, to my knowledge."