YouTube is entering the battle for music streaming exclusives

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MBW told you on Friday that YouTube is investing tens associated with huge amount of money
in a new project designed in order to boost artists' careers.
We speculated that the most obvious route for such the venture would be some kind of digital resource creation - especially since Apple Music has opened its chequebook in current months to fund blockbuster videos/productions for the likes associated with Drake, The 1975 plus Coldplay.
Now we have the better idea exactly exactly where Google's money is heading.
Initially, YouTube is starting small: creating a play in order to create exclusive video from emerging artists via a good existing training initiative known as Foundry.
According to Bloomberg
, recent Foundry workshops have taken place with most up-to-date music talent in LA and London - along with videos of the live sessions set to show on YouTube this week.
Another Foundry music session is because of in New York later on this month with 5 artists including hip-hop act BJ The Chicago Kid and R&B act Gemaine.
But this is just a taster of YouTube's ambition.
Apparently, the online large has mapped out speaks with senior music business figures over the coming weeks to discuss the 'deeper collaboration'.
What could that mean?
Occur. We are going to sure you can hazard a guess.
Bloomberg shows that, in these meetings, YouTube will 'outline ways to better promote artists and bring more exclusive video clips to the service'.
In return for a commitment to YouTube's cause, state its sources, artists will be offered benefits which includes the potential opportunity to front Web TV series on the platform.
Within addition, YouTube will likely offer its video production and post-production resources (aka 'YouTube Spaces') for artists to shoot videos.
Because we ruminated on Fri, this could result in Youtube . com opening up its Authentic channels to music skill. Existing YouTube Original shows combine hi-spec, TV-style creation values with popular 'amateur' broadcasting personalities such asPewDiePie and Lilly Singh.
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The large question now: which type of senior music biz figures is YouTube targeting for these meetings, precisely?
If it's the main labels, then a brand new era of peace and harmony between two oft-warring factions might be upon all of us; YouTube making available the gigantic resources would push some rocket fuel below the promotional firepower of the global record business.
Yet YouTube's general music philosophy, as shown by its $8m BandPage Fake Massage buy earlier this year,
seems to be a small more 'direct-to-fan' than that will.
A more likely scenario: YouTube will target the particular managers of top musicians, offering to pay almost everything they need to generate their own YouTube-exclusive videos - perhaps even their very own YouTube-exclusive shows - including a tasty marketing/promotion commitment.
That will kind of strategy would certainly not only help YouTube neuter the growing exclusive video threat from Apple company Music, TIDAL, Spotify plus others, but may also become helpful ammunition amidst the current haggling with main music rights-holders.
YouTube is currently locked in discussions with Universal Music Group over a new long-term licensing deal after the previous one expired without renewal.

YT's ongoing deals along with the other two main labels, Sony and Warner, are believed to expire in the coming months.
At the same time, the majors are tossing everything at challenging YouTube's safe harbor protections in the US and Europe - protections which essentially mean the platform can't be held legally responsible for copyright infringement taking place on its service.
From the end of final month, a string of top music managers added their signatures to the petition calling on the US Copyright Office to dismantle safe harbor laws peddled by the Digital Centuries Copyright Act (DMCA) in the States.
You have to wonder if certain artist supervisors could be swayed in order to side with YouTube in case their artists were provided paid-for music videos plus special treatment on the particular world's biggest streaming media platform.
YouTube, meanwhile, has other problems that just getting cozy with performers ain't gonna solve.
On Friday, Andrus Ansip, VP for the Digital Solitary Market at the European Commission, delivered some stinging news for Google -- publicly siding with the record industry over the particular amount of money YouTube pays to artists plus labels.
According to the particular FT
, Ansip estimated that will YouTube now contributes around ?600m annually to music rights-holders, despite its billion-plus monthly audience, while Spotify alone delivers ?1. 6bn.
"This is not only about rights owners and creators and their remuneration - this is also about the level playing field among different service providers, " said Ansip.
"Platforms centered on subscriptions are remunerating those authors; other support providers [are] not. How can they will compete? "
Right now, they're just words -- but they could prove hugely significant over time: Ansip is the individual supervising the modern reconstruction of EU digital copyright laws and regulations.
Are big technology businesses about to obtain wings clipped in Europe over the so-called 'value gap'?
Is 'safe harbor' about to take a beating within Brussels?
Stay tuned.