June 18, 2014: YouTube on Tuesday announced that it would be soon launching a paid streaming music service and for this it has partnered with hundreds of major and independent music labels for the new service. This announcement was made as a statement by YouTube ending a long standing speculation about the world’s most popular online video website. This news has been received in the market with mixed reactions and there is a wide spread criticism on this development as well.
There is a growing criticism that YouTube might block the music videos of labels that do not agree to its terms. In a news release by Worldwide Independent Music Industry Network last month, it was mentioned that YouTube would offering deals which are “highly unfavorable and non-negotiable terms” heightening the speculations. Though there are many music label companies who feel that the deals might be unfavorable to them, YouTube has said in a statement that the new service would provide opportunities for new revenue for the music industry.
A statement by YouTube said that “We’re adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube with this in mind – to bring our music partners new revenue streams in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars YouTube already generates for them each year.” YouTube with this new service would be looking for a strong presence in the market presently dominated by streaming music services such as Spotify and Pandora. The online video website would be launching this service shortly and according to reports it would allow the users to listen to music without ads and they could hear it offline as well.
