March 11, 2009 12:37

Beth Orton speaks out about YouTube music video cull

Singer underlines the importance of royalties

Beth Orton has spoken out about the importance of music royalties following YouTube's decision to remove all premium music videos from the UK site.

The movewas made after a dispute with the Performing Rights Society, which had been holding out for a better pay deal for artists whose videos get played on the site.

Orton said that royalties were vital for artists as they couldn't earn enough money just from playing live and releases. "Certain people can’t just make money from gigs, can they?" she told BBC 6music.

She added: "You should get money from recording, because record deals are different now as well, so it would make sense that revenue has to come from somewhere. It's been lovely for me because I've had the last two years to just concentrate on my little girl.

"That's been from working really hard for 10 years and then being able to live off the back of what I've done when those little royalty cheques come in."

YouTube representatives are currently negotiating with those for the PRS in an attempt to agree on a new deal that would allow premium music videos to be added to the site again.