The deal will allow YouTube users to include clips from EMI
artists' music in their own videos. The content will be tracked by
YouTube's own technology, EMI said.
"With this deal, all four of the world's major music companies
are now official YouTube partners," said Chad Hurley, chief
executive and co-founder of YouTube.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the
companies said that YouTube will share advertising revenue earned
on the pages on which EMI music is used.
EMI will then use YouTube's content management system to track
usage and share any income, the record label said.
Universal, Sony BMG and Warner have all already cut deals with
Google over the YouTube service. Those deals also allow the use of
music as a backdrop to users' videos.
Other entertainment companies have been more reluctant.
Film and television company Viacom is pursuing a $1 billion
copyright infringement law suit against Google, alleging that the
YouTube business is founded on infringement.
Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said this week that he
thought the lawsuit was an error. "It was probably just a mistake,"
he told the D: All Things Digital conference.
Schmidt said that the crux of the suit was the Digital Millenium
Copyright Act, and that his company was shielded by the 'safe
harbor' provisions of the law, which say that a service provider
does not have to vet content before allowing a third party to
publish it.
"It's really about the DMCA," he said. "It's pretty clear that
there's a safe haven for sites like ours."
Safe harbor protection says that a service provider is not
liable for illegal content posted by third parties until it is
informed about it. Once told, it must then take down the content,
according to the law.
Viacom, which owns the rights to television channels such as
MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, said that it does not believe
that YouTube is eligible for safe harbor protection, and that it is
profiting from infringement.
EMI is currently fielding bid proposals. While rival Warner is
keen to make an offer for the company, EMI has said that it must be
high – over 300p per share – because it is dependent on regulatory
approval, which could take up to a year.
Private equity firm Terra Firma is the favourite to win with its
offer of 265p per share, valuing the company and its debt at £4
billion.
