Indie Labels Reach Licensing Deal With YouTube Music Service
Last year, YouTube announced that it was working on developing a subscription feature in a similar vein to Spotify, Rhapsody, and its parent company’s service Google All Access. They reached agreements with the three major labels (Sony, Universal, and Warner) a while ago, but were facing resistance from trade groups representing independent labels for offering them lesser deals compared to the majors. The New York Times reports that YouTube has finally reached a licensing deal with the indie labels, who were represented by an organization called Merlin, which is backed by the Worldwide Independent Network. Neither side would comment on the specific terms of the deal. There are no details on what YouTube’s subscription service will look like, though NYT speculates that it “will include high-quality audio and the ability to save videos offline” as well as full access to Google’s music catalog.