Zoe Keating reported the awful contract terms Google is trying to impose on its musicians; Google says her claims are 'patently false'. She fires back with transcripts of her interactions with its staff.
Several journalists have contacted me to say that a Google PR rep told them my claims were "patently false". "Patently" means clear and without doubt. Either someone is not telling the truth or the very nice rep I have been negotiating with, for a year, is patently unclear. There seems to be very little clarity and a lot of doubt on this topic.
I still haven't decided what to do (YouTube is not at the top of my priority list right now) but I don't want to spread false information and I hope my transcript below will provide some clarity. Please, tell me what you think it means.
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Zoe: Wow that's pretty harsh.
Google rep: Yeah, it's harsh and trust me, it is really difficult for me to have this conversation with all of my partners but we're really, what we're trying to do is basically create a new revenue stream on top of what exists on the platform today.
UPDATE: A YouTube spokesperson got in touch to say that any artist who agrees to their basic Terms of Service will always be able to share videos on YouTube, and that the music service contract will not prohibit them from providing exclusives and goodies to fans on other services.
