By Hannah Karp
Music mogul Irving Azoff is trying to pull his clients' songs
from Google Inc.'s YouTube.
Mr. Azoff, one of the industry's most powerful talent managers,
is taking on the tech giant on behalf of the 46 songwriters
represented by his new company, Global Music Rights, which collects
performance royalties from radio stations, digital music services,
bars and nightclubs. All of GMR's songwriters had previously relied
on one of the two big performing rights organizations-the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and Broadcast Music
Inc.-to collect their public performance money.
A lawyer for GMR sent two letters Friday to YouTube's general
counsel, demanding that the company stop playing some 20,000 of the
group's songs immediately, as YouTube hadn't sought a license from
the organization to do so, Mr. Azoff said. Among the compositions
in GMR's catalog are songs written by John Lennon, the Eagles,
Pharrell Williams, Ira Gerswhin and Smokey Robinson. (Not all the
acts represented by GMR are Azoff management clients.)
On Monday GMR's lawyer sent another letter, demanding
documentation of any licenses that YouTube might have.
"In defiance of our demands, it appears YouTube continues to
broadcast videos containing the songs controlled by GMR, with each
broadcast constituting a willful copyright infringement," wrote
GMR's lawyer, Howard King.
A YouTube spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Rolfe Winkler contributed to this article.
Write to Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@wsj.com
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