YouTube is insisting that young musicians sign strict gagging clauses in exchange for promotional support, it has been claimed.
The video site, which is owned by Google, has given a handful of emerging artists £140,000 each to produce videos and promote their work on hoardings as part of a campaign to improve the site’s relationship with the music industry.
However, the Bloomberg news agency was told Google’s support comes with a catch — the artists must promise not to criticise YouTube. Analysts said the company’s intention was to stifle criticism over the revenue it shares with artists and copyright infringement.
Non-disparagement agreements are not unusual in showbusiness but YouTube’s biggest direct competitors in music do not ask for them, the sources said. They said YouTube’s agreements were especially stringent and that the company required many of its partners to sign similar terms.
Artists and songwriters claim revenues from YouTube are not in proportion to the amount of music streamed and fall short of other platforms.
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Last year scores of musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Carole King signed a petition calling on the US Congress to make YouTube more responsible for policing copyright violations.