Music labels reportedly thinking of pulling their tunes from YouTube

YouTube Music
Is music about to disappear from YouTube?

When the first YouTube video appeared in 2005, few would've imagined the different areas it would grow to cover: live events, music, TV, movies, hilarious cat videos and so on.

Now one of those major chunks of the network could be under threat. The New York Post reports that the biggest labels want to pull their official music clips because they aren't making enough money from the video portal.

The Post isn't the most reliable of publications but it's not the first time we've heard that there's friction between YouTube and the people who provide the content it relies on.

Free to listen

The music labels would rather you didn't get any music for free (Apple Music doesn't have a free tier and Spotify is said to be under pressure to remove the one it has). The likes of Spotify and Google insist free access is the best way to get people to pay money later on.

In the midst of all this is YouTube Music Key, the subscription service linked to Google Play Music that removes ads on music videos in return for a monthly payment. It's obviously not enough for the labels.

No music on YouTube wouldn't be advantageous for either YouTube or the music industry, so let's hope they reach a solution soon. In the meantime, if your favourite tune of the summer suddenly vanishes, you know why.

TOPICS
David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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