Fair Play for Creators

We must establish fair principles now, for our own sakes and for the sake of future artists.

My boyfriend is a music producer so I fully support this campaign. No other broadcaster gets away with it so why should YouTube?

Google need to plough some of their vast profits back into royalty management.

In a digital time when you can be billed per second by many service providers, how ridiculous it is that a digital company with the resources of Google, balk at the possibility of tracking royalties. As a songwriter rather than a performer, just dealing with major labels and their interests is just not adequate. Why shouldn’t I be paid for my work when Google banks millions in advertising revenue whilst using it?

I give my wholehearted support to PRS for Music. Songwriters have historically always had to fight to be paid their fair dues. This is just another strategy to avoid paying us.

For goodness sake Google and other online music broadcasters, just wake up to the fact that we (musicians/composers etc) spend hours, days, weeks and months to make the music that you want to play..so PAY!

It is really important that artists with profile get behind this. It is getting harder and harder to make a living creating music, big corporations like Google should support music, otherwise it will kill off the talent that got it where it is now.

In my view, YouTube should not be allowed to benefit from whatever content it wants (generating vast amounts of traffic and advertising revenue) without remunerating the intellectual property owner.

Google is one of the richest companies in the world - why would they refuse to pay what is due to composers? Would they then assume ownership of their site content? Pay up! It’s the principle and the law that counts!

Saying they cannot afford to pay royalties is not that believable considering internet sites don't have to purchase expensive broadcasting licenses like radio and TV stations do.

Our video 'Tell Me Ma'(we have 50% of the publishing) has tens of thousands of hits on YouTube. We don't appear to have received any royalties from Google. I am neither super-famous nor wealthy - Tell Me Ma was my 'one-hit-wonder'! I continue to write and perform and do so because I am good at it and I love it. Singing & coaching young people is my main source of income. Comments on YouTube don't pay the bills.

This is, simply, a 'no brainer' issue. If you want to use material under copyright then you need permission of the copyright holder and pay the going rate to get that permission. If you don't wish to pay, then don't play it - that's fine - others will and will gain the benefits that the music use brings in terms of customers attracted to their output (online or otherwise).

This seems like yet another example of the lack of understanding of the real worth of music and the hard work behind it's creation - people will lead by example and if a company the size of Google are allowed to successfully continue to operate in the manner they intend then it could spell a very bleak future, not just for composers, but for music lovers everywhere.

Please reconsider your royalty scheme for musicians, so many whom struggle hard to make a living from their talent. Please reward this talent by obliging to a small royalty.