Nikki Sixx says treat artists fairly Google…
Nikki Sixx co-founder of Mötley Crüe, is the latest artist to slam Google for its low royalty payments on services like Youtube, according to The Guardian.
Sixx alongside his Sixx:A.M. band mates have teamed up with other musicians to take a stand against Youtube by campaigning for ‘fair’ payouts. Collectively they aim to get the streaming platform to raise its royalty rates as they say the service is one of the lowest paying streaming platforms in the market. Youtube pay a sixth of what Spotify and Apple Music pay, according to Sixx.
”We’re not telling them how to run their business…we’re saying treat artists fairly the way other streaming services are. And by the way, we are a big part of what built your business: music is the No1 most-searched thing on Youtube.”
Sixx says that Google has changed its corporate motto from ‘Don’t be evil’ to ‘Do the right thing’, and the only thing that they ask of Google is to stick to their motto and simply “don’t be evil! And do the right thing as far as artists are concerned, for the fans.”
A spokesperson for Youtube defended themselves against the campaign brought forward by Sixx and others saying…
”Google has paid out billions to the music industry, and we’re engaged in productive conversations with the labels and publishers around increasing transparency on payouts.”
The spokesperson then continues to say that they are ”also working hard to bring more revenue to the music industry through our subscription service, as well as continuing to grow our ad-supported business, which allows artists and labels to monetize the 80% music listeners who historically have never paid for music.”
The campaign for higher royalty pay-outs for artists on Google’s services comes after a string of open debates and conversations regarding Youtube and its devaluation of music and its exploitation of artists. The IFPI and EU officials are in agreement that Google isn’t doing enough for artists and that its content ID system isn’t working to prevent copyright infringement.
The US copyright office also conducted a public study into the effectiveness of the DMCA safe harbour provisions, which Google responded to in an 18-page letter testifying that its services including Youtube are in fact fair for artists, their services do not devalue music and it’s all just one big industry ‘myth’.
The battle continues…
(Image by Alec, Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic, cc by 2.0)
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