YouTube and Warner Music reach deal on music videos

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Music videos from Green Day, Metallica and Madonna will begin reappearing on YouTube by the end of the year as Google Inc.’s giant online video site struck an agreement with Warner Music Group.

Warner videos disappeared from YouTube last December amid a contract dispute over how much the music videos were worth. Warner Music Chairman and Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. became personally involved in negotiations to help strike a deal that YouTube described as ‘sustainable.’ Warner Music, which was the first of the major labels to strike a deal with YouTube, will be able to sell advertising surrounding its artists’ work and split the proceeds with the website. The label can also identify its songs on user-created videos, and make money on these videos.

Chris Maxcy, YouTube’s head of music partnerships, declined to say whether Warner received any advances against future revenue or discuss financial terms of the multiyear agreement.

‘We’re pleased to announce that we’ve reached a new and expanded agreement with Google and its YouTube subsidiary that will bring Warner Music Group content back to the service as early as the end of the year,’ the label said in a statement.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski