Irving Azoff is slamming YouTube with a $1 billion threat. Azoff is head of Global Music Rights, which manages performance rights of the Eagles, Ryan Tedder, Pharrell Williams, John Lennon and others, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, he is demanding that YouTube no longer has the rights to Global Music’s 20, 000 song catalog, according to Music Times.
Naturally, it seems the goal is to increase royalties for artists on YouTube, but Azoff is demanding YouTube remove the songs. Google, which owns YouTube, is not going to take this lying down. Howard King, lawyer for Global Music Rights, said Google was “blithely” ignoring notices because YouTube operates under blanket licenses from performing rights organizations other than Global. However, King then said that YouTube had refused to show details of the license agreements, “presumably because no such agreement exists.”
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The lawyer representing Google, David Kramer, fired back with “This is now your third attempt to circumvent the straightforward dMCA notice and takedown process that Congress devised to handle situations like this.”
The $1 billion Azoff is asking for is a bit high for publishing rights, but he might just get that amount if the matter goes to court.
