YouTube's new streaming music service means popular videos may disappear

When YouTube launches its upcoming streaming music service, videos from artists like Adele and Arctic Monkeys may disappear from its website.

Why? 

Some independent labels are refusing to agree to YouTube's new licensing terms. If they don't, YouTube's head of content said the site will start removing videos of their artistes "in a matter of days", reported CNET. 

The deals that YouTube is offering are on “highly unfavorable, and non-negotiable terms,” according to a news release issued by the Worldwide Independent Music Industry Network last month.

YouTube declined to comment on the terms of the deals, but said in a statement that the new service would provide new revenue for the music industry. “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 said in a statement.

YouTube has already signed deals for the paid service with 95 percent of the music labels that it previously had deals with for its existing, ad-supported music video website, said a person familiar with the matter. 

Another Spotify?

​According to sources, YouTube's music service will function a lot like other streaming music services already out there, such as Spotify. 

The YouTube service is expected to launch at the end of the summer and will allow users to listen to music without any ads, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Among the other features expected are the ability to listen to music offline and the ability to listen to an artist’s entire album instead of just individual songs, as is currently the case on YouTube, the person said. 

Sources: Reuters, CNET