Youtube rejects accusations from the music industry
Google is defending itself against accusations from the music industry that its Youtube video platform is damaging the industry's business. On Wednesday, the Internet company referred to the Content ID system, which can also be used to identify music tracks on the platform.
With the help of Content ID, Youtube has paid out a total of two billion dollars to rights holders, half of which since October 2014 alone. With Content ID, Google creates a kind of digital fingerprint of music or video content. If rights holders want to use the system, they must provide Youtube with a corresponding reference file. The service currently has 50 million such reference files with a total duration of 600 years, said Google manager Simon Morrison. In the music sector, more than 95 percent of the rights holders have decided to leave the songs uploaded by users on the YouTube platform and to receive a share of the advertising revenue from Google in connection with the videos. The music industry, on the other hand, has repeatedly criticized the platform for not generating enough money for rights holders compared to the one billion YouTube users. The dispute has recently come to a head. About two weeks ago, more than 1,000 musicians - including stars such as Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran - complained to the EU Commission that services such as Youtube were unfairly devaluing music with their broad free offerings. (SDA)
