Irving Azoff prepared to pull 200k songs from YouTube

Irving Azoff – the industry magnate who represents Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars, John Lennon and the Eagles among others on his new rights management venture – is prepared to take his acts off of YouTube.

Azoff, a former artist manager and Live Nation Chairman, represents some 20,000 copyrighted works through his Global Music Rights; the company is a direct response to the industry’s concerns that artists are being misrepresented in the digital space.

Azoff is unimpressed with YouTube’s just-launched subscription version, YouTube Music Key and wants higher royalties for songwriters. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said he would take 42 of his clients off of YouTube and its Music Key if necessary.

“GMR is going to give songwriters and publishers an opportunity to engage in meaningful licensing for their intellectual property,” Azoff told THR. “The trampling of writers’ rights in the digital marketplace without any regard to their contribution to the creative process will no longer be tolerated.”

With GMR, Azoff has promised its songwriters 30% more in royalty payments from radio stations and online platforms than they’re getting from US performing rights organisations ASCAP and BMI.

Google’s subscription service followed the announcement of YouTube’s deal with global independent rights agency Merlin. The streaming service is said to now have all the major labels and “hundreds of indies on board”. That wasn’t always the case though, YouTube had grappled with much apprehension from the independent label sector after it handed a licensing contract for the service to indie labels and publishers. The sector reacted to its apparent non-negotiable contract terms, which includes a most-favored-nation clause, by drawing up a Fair Digital Deals Declaration.