Youtube Settles Part of Lawsuit In an Agreement With NMPA

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YouTube has finally reached a settlement in the YouTube lawsuit brought by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), as well as the Harry Fox Agency (HFA). This means YouTube has reached a new agreement in which they went out and licensed the content with over 3,000 independent music publishers.

The copyright lawsuit was a class action suit that involved the Premier League, so the NMPA will no longer be a part of the YouTube lawsuit. Universal Music Group, EMI Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music all have their own 1:1 licensing contracts with YouTube.

YouTube made the announcement yesterday, saying "Going forward, the 46,000 music publishers already affiliated with HFA will be able to license the musical compositions they represent for use by the YouTube community. When these publishers allow YouTube to run ads alongside user generated videos that incorporate their compositions, the publishers, and the songwriters they represent, can make money."

This will make a big difference in YouTube music, because YouTube music videos are 40% of all YouTube videos that are watched, as we found out this week. YouTube still does not run ads against most music videos, so maybe the approving the licensing will change that.

So YouTube may or may not reach an agreement with Viacom for licensing. As you may remember, YouTube won the lawsuit, but Viacom has appealed the decision.