Remember back in the day when musicians were banding together against services like Pandora and Spotify?

These days the music worlds attention is focused on Youtube, claiming the service doesn’t pay enough royalties. There is a demand to change the law that allows Youtube to operate this way, highlighting the need to track every dollar as listening habits transition to streaming vs. download.

Katy Perry, Billy Joel, Pharrell Williams Bon Jovi and many other big names in the industry have signed letters asking for copyright law modification. Prominent managers like Irving Azoff has also criticized Youtube in multiple instances.

Somehow, despite Youtube’s massive audience, they appear to produce less direct income for musicians than the likes of vinyl record sales – which is a relatively small market. And while Youtube does act as a mechanism to promote music, it is also an ‘easy way out’ – not providing a substantial source of revenue for anybody…but Youtube.

As we speak, major record labels are in the midst of renegotiating their contracts with Youtube. It will be an interesting story to follow. We all know the music industry is behind the times when it comes to keeping up with technology – maybe this is the start of that changing.