Debbie Harry joins calls for YouTube to pay musicians ‘fairly’

Speaking out: Debbie Harry calls on YouTube to pay their musicians 'fairly'
Noam Galai/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Jennifer Ruby26 April 2016
The Weekender

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Debbie Harry has called for YouTube to pay the musicians it features ‘fairly’.

The Blondie frontwoman, who has more than four decades’ worth of experience in the record industry, is the latest star to put pressure on the video streaming site.

In a blog for the Guardian, the 70-year-old has said that she feels ‘compelled’ to speak out on behalf of other artists.

She said: “In this era of streaming platforms, I feel compelled to speak out on behalf of a new generation of artists who are not being treated or compensated fairly.

“In a world in which few people are paying for music, it is imperative for companies that generate enormous revenues, such as YouTube, to support the musicians and artists who have made that platform what it is today.”

Harry went on to say that Blondie’s Heart of Glass video had been viewed a total of 49 million times on the site, while as many as one million other videos from unofficial accounts were available for users to watch.

“Yet none of us in Blondie will receive a fair amount of royalties from these millions of plays,” she said.

“In fact, it is estimated by the American Association of Independent Music that YouTube pays only a sixth of what Apple and Spotify pay artists.”

Admitting that those who lose out are the up-and-coming artists rather than the one who are already established, she added:

“I am joining artists like Katy Perry, Nikki Sixx and Billy Joel, and I’m asking other artists to join us in asking President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich to lobby Congress to change the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).”

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