EMI admits apprehension over YouTube

EMI has revealed it will not rush into a deal with YouTube without ensuring proper copyright protection, following comments by EMI executives at yesterday’s financial presentation.

The company famously held back from striking a deal with YouTube before it was snapped up by Google for $1.6bn last month, even though Warners and Universal secured deals.

Industry speculators have since suggested EMI’s cautionary stance is a negotiating tactic to ensure a deal similar to Universal’s, which gives it a 1% share in YouTube’s equity and a payment of around eight-tenths of a cent every time a Universal song is played on the site.