YouTube Threatened With A $1 Billion Lawsuit

New Performing Rights Organization, Global Music Rights has threatened to sue YouTube. The group which represents about 40 notable artists, including Pharrell Williams says that YouTube no longer has the license to perform the songs for a lot of different artists whose material is on YouTube. The artists/songwriters that make up Global Music Rights were former members of ASCAP and BMI. Now that they no longer are a part of the respective Organizations they have requested that over 20,000 songs be removed from YouTube. YouTube claims that they have the right to still perform these songs under the consent decree that they have with ASCAP & BMI. A lawyer from YouTube commented saying that if these artists want their material removed that they must go through the “notice & takedown” process that all YouTube users must go through. No formal lawsuit has been filed, as Global Music Rights is trying to negotiate with YouTube outside of court. We’ll see how long the negotiations last before the media giant is sued for over $1 Billion.