Music Industry Heavyweight Threatens to Pull Songs from Youtube
Irving Azoff, famed music manager and former Executive Chairman of LiveNation Entertainment, has threatened to pull over 20,000 songs of his clients from YouTube—including huge names like John Lennon, Pharrell, and the Eagles. Azoff, fronting a new venture Global Music Rights, is seeking to make a statement regarding higher payment of royalties to songwriters. This threat comes in light of Google’s upcoming launch of YouTube Music Key, a heavily hyped subscription service that will aim to compete with big-time services such as Pandora and Spotify. This bold action makes one wonder if other music reps will follow his lead and join the fight for higher royalty payments. For more info, see http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/irving-azoff-threatens-yank-20000-748631.
