"People are getting very pissed off about YouTube's attitude," according to a "well-placed source" at one of Britain's most influential independent record labels.

Quoted by Billboard, "It's either sign [the contract] or suck it, and we know its not the same deal that the majors have been offered," he says. "There's definitely a ground swell that we need to take action."

On the day Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock, GooTube announced deals with Universal Music Group and Sony BMG modeled after its two-week-old pact Warner Music Group, says the story, going on:

However, "We fully expect to be compensated fairly and on par with the larger companies, we will not accept second rate terms because we are smaller companies," Simon Wheeler, head of digital at Beggars Group, states.

"If anyone uses our copyrights without a license, we as Beggars, and the independent sector as a whole, take it extremely seriously."

Merlin, an indie licensing agency which has already struck a deal with MySpace in a deal which takes in Snocap, was announced recently at the MIDEM trade fair in Cannes, "with a remit to negotiate terms with the likes of YouTube," as Billboard points out.

"The indies represent 30% of the worldwide marketplace," says Peter Gordon, Thirsty Ear founder and VP of WIN. "The disconnect is that people do not realize our depth and strength and they have not seen that we've been unified. It may be a rude awakening, but here we are."

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Also See:
Billboard - Indies Up In Arms Over YouTube, January 30, 2007
deal with MySpace - Merlin, Snocap, MySpace deal, January 22, 2007