Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx wants YouTube to pay artists more royalties

YouTube is not paying artists enough in royalties for music videos, and Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx has had enough. He says that the Google-owned video site pays just a fraction of the likes of Apple and Spotify.

Sixx is calling on other musicians to join forces in a bid to make YouTube dig deeper into its pockets and pay artists a fair share. He is quick to point out that this is not just about getting more money for himself, insisting that he is also looking out for "the little guy -- the up and comers that we were at one point".

As well as being a royalty issue, the debate also focuses on the idea of copyright law and how it operates around the world. Sites such as YouTube that allow people to upload content of their own are immune from prosecution for copyright infringement. Musicians argue that this gives the site an unfair advantage when negotiating pay deals, resulting in artists being paid less.

Speaking to the Guardian, Sixx said:

YouTube is paying out about a sixth of what Spotify and Apple pay artists. We are not telling them how to run their business. We're saying treat artists fairly the way other streaming services are. And by the way, we are a big part of what built your business: music is the No 1 most-searched thing on YouTube.

Google argues that it pays out "billions" to the music industry and suggests that YouTube acts as a form of advertising:

We believe that by providing artists and songwriters greater visibility around revenue earned on YouTube, we can solve many of these issues. We're also working hard to bring more revenue to the music industry through our subscription service, as well as continuing to grow our ad supported business, which allows artists and labels to monetize the 80 percent music listeners who historically have never paid for music.

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