Irving Azoff Demands Some Music Be Removed From YouTube

Irving Azoff

Last week (NET NEWS 11/13), ALL ACCESS reported IRVING AZOFF was threatening to remove the music of 42 of his clients -- including THE EAGLES, PHARRELL WILLIAMS, BOSTON, FOREIGNER, JOHN LENNON, SMOKEY ROBINSON, CHRIS CORNELL and GEORGE and IRA GERSHWIN -- representing some 20,000 copyrighted works from the YOUTUBE ecosystem, including the new MUSIC KEY.

AZOFF has followed through on that threat.

NASDAQ reports AZOFF's lawyer HOWARD KING sent YOUTUBE a letter "demanding documentation of any licenses that YOUTUBE might have." They wrote, "In defiance of our demands, it appears YOUTUBE continues to broadcast videos containing the songs controlled by GMR, with each broadcast constituting a willful copyright infringement."

"A GOOGLE spokesman told DOW JONES BUSINESS NEWS that YOUTUBE, "responded that it has struck deals with labels, publishers, license-collection groups and others for its new subscription music-video service, YOUTUBE MUSIC KEY and would continue to work on such deals."

The war of words is getting heated, as AZOFF "started the performing rights group largely out of frustration with YOUTUBE, which he says is involved in the bulk of music's 'exploitation', while providing only a tiny sliver of the industry's revenue," adds DOW JONES BUSINESS NEWS. "In his dealings with YOUTUBE over the years as a talent manager, he said YOUTUBE typically would ask him to prove that it didn't have licensees to use his clients' work, a nearly impossible task, he added. The company also has typically asked him to identify exactly where in its system the copyright infringement is occurring, another challenge for outsiders." The report also adds, "AZOFF said he expects his takedown request to carry more weight now because 'this time it's not a single artist that's going to go away'."

Twitter Threats

Later on, AZOFF took to his TWITTER account to outline his plan of attack against YOUTUBE should it not pull his songs or negotiate with him over royalty rates.

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