YouTube reaches agreement on music videos in Germany after seven years

YouTube has reached an agreement in Germany with the copyright organization Gema on fees for music videos. The agreement will allow Germans to watch music videos from members of the organization on YouTube again after seven years.

For years, Germans who wanted to watch music videos from artists affiliated with the Gema, the German Buma/Stemra or Sabam were told that the images were not available. The cause was a licensing dispute that started in 2009. On Tuesday, YouTube and the Gema still signed a license agreement, both report.

As a result of the agreement, the music videos will be available again and the organization’s 70,000 members will be paid retroactively for videos published since 2009 to which they have rights. It is not known what amounts are involved. De Gema speaks of an ‘appropriate compensation’. In 2009, the dispute allegedly involved a fee of 12 euro cents per track.

In addition to publishing music videos with advertising, the agreement also covers YouTube’s subscription service. That YouTube Red service, where viewers pay a monthly fee for ad-free videos, is currently only available in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and the US. According to the Gema, it is also coming to Europe.