German music publishers are backing the German collection society GEMA in its dispute with YouTube. Google has blocked access to music videos on YouTube in Germany, following a similar move last month in the U.K. where negotiations for a new licensing deal also broke down.
Google/YouTube should return to the negotiations with reasonable arguments, said Karl-Heinz Klempnow, VP of the German music publishers’ association DMV in Berlin. Klempnow stated that an agreement should be concluded containing a fair remuneration and ensuring that GEMA gets all information and data in order to be able to properly account to its members.
“Proper accounting for their creative work is an urgent need of the authors and publishers,” said Klempnow in a statement. “The music publishers hope that polemics can be cut out in favor of the whole matter.”
In the previous year, the DMV recorded a turnover of €580 million ($767.9 million) for its members.