Apparently at least one of the remaining record labels isn’t content to simply drive music off the airwaves with demands for performance royalties. Warner Music Group is now yanking its content off of YouTube due to what it considers to be inadequate compensation from its owner Google.
Writing for Motley Fool, Rick Aristotle Munarriz said, “Warner is wrong. Way wrong. It is doing itself, and more importantly its diminishing musical roster, a major disservice by pulling its clips from YouTube.”
He said videos need to get out there somehow, in these days of almost zero-exposure on MTV, and YouTube not only provides the exposure, it even gives WMG a cut.
“Gee, what part of ‘incremental’ and ‘zero overhead’ does Warner not understand?” wondered Munnariz. “As long as its presence on YouTube is not cannibalizing its efforts elsewhere, why look a gift horse in the mouth?”
RBR/TVBR observation: It is impossible to write about any business for any length of time without occasionally running into some variation of the greater fool theory. But we have to say, we find it hard to believe that there are any greater fools out there than those running the labels. WMG would take free promotion on radio, and promotion for which it actually is compensated on YouTube, and flush it down the toilet. Amazing.
