Indies Front Up To YouTube

The row over the Google-owned firm negotiating separate agreements with major labels Sony, Warner and Universal, while apparently ignoring the indie labels, has rumbled on since June. Indie organisations such as the Worldwide Independent Network, the European indies under IMPALA, expressed “extreme concerns” and called on the European Commission to step in.

They were angry over YouTube’s alleged threat to block the content of companies that don’t sign up to its new streaming service on what were being described as “highly unfavourable terms.”

IMPALA, the Brussels-based independent music companies’ association, is now calling for the European Parliament –which is also based in the city – to adopt a 10-point plan it sees as a way of dealing with copyright problems and getting the indies a fairer deal.

“An industrial policy for culture is a pre-requisite for Europe’s digital economy,” says IMPALA executive chair Helen Smith. “This involves reinforcing copyright and clarifying what operators like YouTube can and can’t do.” Günther Oettinger, the parliament’s digital economy commissioner, and German European People’s Party MEP Sabine Verheyen were likely to have been among the main speakers when the parliamentary debate opened Jan. 27.

“This [10-point] action plan presents very practical ways to boost creativity through smaller actors and deliver a dynamic digital single market built on diversity,” Verheyen has said in support of the IMPALA initiative.

Click here to see the action plan with its ten points explained, and here to see the list of proposed measures.