Warner Stops the Music on Youtube

James Blunt, Madonna and Led Zeppelin are set to disappear from YouTube after their record company, Warner Music Group, fell out with the video-sharing site in a row over loyalties.

Warner Music said it would pull hundreds of thousands of videos from the site following the collapse of talks with the Google-owned company about renegotiating a content-sharing deal. "We simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide," the group said. Warner Music added that it was "working actively" to find a resolution with YouTube.

The company had yet to remove all material from YouTube by yesterday afternoon, with Madonna fans still able to watch a video for her single 4 minutes posted by WMG on the site - the promo for James Blunt's ubiquitous You're Beautiful was also available. Other Warner Music artists include Metallica and Bloc Party.

Content will be removed from the site along with recordings owned by Warner Music's record publishing business, Warner/Chappell Music, which controls the copyright to songs including Happy Birthday to You and Winter Wonderland. Warner Music's withdrawal also covers amateur clips that feature its artists or copyrighted songs - potentially widening the action to hundreds of thousands of additional postings.

YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65bn (£1.1bn) in 2006, the same year Warner Music became the first music group to sign a deal with the site. The agreement allows YouTube to post Warner Music videos and artist interviews, with the group receiving payment from advertising revenues and royalties.