YouTube has struck a deal to license music from the thousands of independent record labels represented by the rights agency Merlin, setting the stage for the launch of its long-awaited subscription service.
People familiar with the matter said the deal was signed in recent days following months of acrimonious negotiations, in which YouTube threatened to take down music videos by artists such as Adele and the Arctic Monkeys if its demands were not met.
The agreement paves the way for the Google-owned company to finally launch a paid-for music service, which will compete with Spotify, the Swedish streaming service, Deezer of France and Apple’s Beats Music.
“One of the last significant obstacles to getting to market has been removed,” said Mark Mulligan, music analyst at Midia Research.
The news came as Spotify announced that its total number of monthly active users had jumped 25 per cent to 50m in the last six months.
YouTube, the world’s biggest online video service, plans to start rolling out its paid tier within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The new service will allow users who pay a monthly fee to listen to music and watch videos without the interruption of advertising. Other features include the ability to save music for offline listening.
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