Neil Young: YouTube must respect artists

Neil Young wants to remind YouTube that Rockin' In The Free World isn't free.

The iconic musician, whose hits include Harvest Moon, Cinnamon Girl and Rockin' In The Free World, says in a blog post that YouTube doesn't fairly compensate acts represented by Warner Music Group.

Neil Young wants YouTube to cut deals with the four big labels that would compensate artists equally. (Credit: Neilyoung.com)

Young is referring to the spat that erupted in January between Warner Music and YouTube. The two companies couldn't come to terms on a new licensing agreement and Warner Music's content was pulled from YouTube.

"YouTube has a responsibility to respect the artists it facilitates and resist punishing them to make a business point," Young wrote at his site, Neilyoung.com.

Representatives from YouTube and Warner Music could not be reached for comment.

In the past, YouTube has struck separate licensing agreements with each of the top four licensing agreements. The Google-owned company is amid renegotiating those agreements. In 2006, Warner was first among the labels to sign a deal with the video site, but some of the labels that signed later negotiated better terms, according to numerous industry sources.

Now, Warner wants similar terms to what competitors received. Presumably, YouTube isn't offering all of them.

"It is time for industry-wide standards of artist's compensation on the web," Young wrote. "Warner Bros artists deserve what artists from other labels are getting."