Talks Between Warner & YouTube Fail, Label Asks For Videos By T.I. & Diddy To Be Pulled

Warner Music Group, the parent company for Atlantic Records and Bad Boy Entertainment, has reportedly ordered YouTube to pull all music videos by its artists from their site after failed contract negotiations. Warner Music Group (WMG) was the first major media company to negotiate a deal with YouTube to share revenue earned from its videos displayed on the popular site.

According to Reuters, the negotiations between both parties for a new contract failed today (December 20) because Warner Music was seeking a bigger share in revenue.

Warner's order to remove its videos will have a major affect on YouTube. Warner's subsidiaries are recording homes to numerous rappers including T.I., Diddy, Lupe Fiasco, Yung Joc and Mike Jones.

Warner also has a publishing unit which owns rights to songs that are posted on YouTube by artists who are not signed to any of its labels.

"We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists’ content to the site,” Warner said in a statement. “Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide".

At press time, some videos by T.I. and Diddy were still available on YouTube.

"Sometimes, if we can’t reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners," YouTube said in a statement on its blog.