Almost like a classic bait-and-switch, Google's music streaming service, YouTube Music Key, has backed another musician into the corner — this time cellist Zoë Keating.
In a recent blog post, Keating vented about the challenges of allowing Google and YouTube to have claim on her music. According to Wondering Sound, Google is pressuring the cellist to agree to its terms for Music Key or else be barred from her YouTube channel.
This would also mean that Keating would lose control over her "Content ID," which musicians use to earn money when their music is featured in other videos on YouTube. On the blog post, she also noted that the YouTube agreement lasts five years and would require her to include all of her catalog, both in the free and paid spectrums.
She said in the post: "I can't think of another streaming service that makes such demands. It's one thing for individuals to upload all my music for free listening (it doesn't bother me)."
She continued: "It's another thing entirely for a major corporation to force me to. I was encouraged to participate and now, after I'm invested, I'm being pressured into something I don't want to do."
Before this incident, Keating drew national attention when she revealed how much streaming services were paying her in royalties for plays on her music. Pandora paid a mere $1,700 in a six-month space, which included 1.5 million plays.
Spotify, too, paid out only $550 for a total of 131,000 plays.
Read the rest of her post on her Tumblr here and in the meantime, get familiar with her (unfortunately via the YouTube generator) below.
