Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and YouTube have plenty of company from music services when it comes to concerns over licensing costs but Featured Artists Coalition members Billy Bragg and Dave Rowntree call the company’s attitude “menacing.” Quick catch-up: YouTube claims it would lose money on every play if it meets the PRS price for a license renewal, while PRS For Music says YouTube wants to pay less. Here’s a sampling of the comments in response to YouTube’s decision to pull most of its “premium” videos from its UK site after discussions with PRS hit an impasse:
— Billy Bragg and Dave Rowntree: In a Guardian column, the two connect the YouTube dispute with this week’s launch of the Featured Artists Coalition and its campaign to match fair compensation with widespread access. “By choosing to take on the PRS, a society that collects royalties for artists rather than record companies, Google is hoping to bring to heel the last remaining outpost of resistance to the idea that music on the internet should be free