YouTube and PRS settle royalties dispute

A dispute over royalties between YouTube and a musicians' group has been settled, paving the way for premium music videos to appear again on the video-sharing site.

After a deal to pay royalties to artists whose videos appear on YouTube expired in January 2009, the site's owner Google fell out with PRS for Music, which represents musicians and copyright holders, about the terms of a new deal.

In March YouTube took premium music videos off its UK site in response to what it called "prohibitive licensing fees".

"PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our licence than before", Google said at the time.

However, PRS for Music laid the blame firmly with Google.

"Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies," PRS for Music said in a statement.

However, the two parties have now reached an agreement and an undisclosed sum will be paid to PRS for Music to cover the period from January 2009 until 2012.

Andrew Shaw of PRS for Music said: "It is important that those who are creating music – the writers and composers we represent - be rewarded when their works are used. This is an achievement for songwriters, composers and the YouTube community alike and it reinforces the value of our members’ work."

The videos taken from the site will be reinstated within the next few days, YouTube said.

Patrick Walker, YouTube’s director of video partnerships said: "We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with PRS for Music and look forward to the return of premium music videos to YouTube in the UK where they will join a variety of other content to be enjoyed by our British users."