YouTube的“敌人”
乐坛正罕见地联合对YouTube展开公开斗争，YouTube有着数十亿用户。但年度销售统计显示，YouTube带给音乐人的直接受益比黑胶唱片这一小众市场的销售更加少。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
Coldplay 酷玩乐队（英国著名流行乐队）
siphon 用虹吸管吸出；抽取['saɪf(ə)n]
salvo 齐鸣['sælvəʊ]
provision 规定；条款[prə'vɪʒ(ə)n]
prosecution 检举；进行；经营[prɒsɪ'kjuːʃ(ə)n]
nascent 初期的['næs(ə)nt; 'neɪ-]
monetize 使货币化（等于monetize）['mʌnitaiz]
phonographic 留声机的；速记的[,fəʊnə'ɡræfɪk]
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
如果您读完全文用时为： 那么，您的阅读速度相当于 每分钟阅读的英文单词数
3分31秒 母语为英语者的朗读速度 140
1分5秒 母语为英语的中学生的阅读速度 250
1分12秒 母语为英语的大学生的阅读速度 350
0分4秒 母语为英语的速读高手 1000
Pop stars complain to Brussels over YouTube（464 words）
By Matthew Garrahan in London
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Pop stars ranging from Abba and Coldplay to Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga have written to the European Commission complaining that Google’s YouTube is “unfairly siphoning value” away from artists and songwriters.
More than a thousand acts signed the letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, saying there was a growing “value gap” between rising music consumption — which is “exploding” — and revenue.
“The value gap undermines the rights and revenues of those who create, invest in and own music, and distorts the market place,” the artists wrote.
The letter is the latest salvo in a campaign against YouTube by acts and music labels, which are pressing for changes to provisions that give online video services “safe harbour” from prosecution if they are found to be hosting unauthorised content.
“These protections were put in place two decades ago to help develop nascent digital start-ups, but today are being misapplied to corporations that distribute and monetise our works,” the artists said.
YouTube, which shares advertising revenue from music videos with artists and labels, said it had paid out $3bn to the industry. A spokesman said the company was “working collaboratively” with the industry “to bring more money to artists”.
YouTube’s Content ID system locates unauthorised uploads and gives artists and labels the option of generating money from them via advertising.
“The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube, and choose to leave fan uploads up on the platform and earn money from them 95 per cent of the time,” said a YouTube spokesman.
However, many in the music industry say too much unauthorised music is slipping through the cracks.
Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music group and home of acts such as Taylor Swift and Sam Smith, said in a recent filing to the US Copyright Office that it had hired a third-party company “just to find and claim UMG’s own content that has been used without authorisation on YouTube.”
Sony Music said in a filing that “untold millions in revenue” would “never be realised by Sony due to plays of Sony Recordings that Content ID does not identify”.
Global music revenues rose 3.2 per cent to $15bn in 2015 as digital sales of music overtook physical sales for the first time, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It was the first year-on-year growth in almost 20 years and is being driven by streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music.
However, the IFPI said in a recent report that growth was being held back because “revenues are not being fairly returned to rights holders”.
The dispute with YouTube comes as the three largest music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music — negotiate new licensing deals with the Google-owned video platform.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
1. What undermines the rights and distorts the market place in the letter?
A. revenue
B. value gap
C. page view
D. online video services
2. When were the protections put in place to help develop nascent digital start-ups?
A. 5 years ago
B. a decade ago
C. 20 years ago
D. 15 years ago
3. Where did YouTube share advertising revenue from?
A. music videos
B. artists and labels
C. on-site advertising
D. membership fees
4. Who is the world’s biggest music group?
A. Sony Music
B. Warner Music
C. Universal Music Group
D. IFPI
[1] 答案 B. value gap
解释：联名信写到这种价值缺口侵害了艺术家的权利并且扭曲了市场。
[2] 答案 C. 20 years ago
解释：20年前就开始了。
[3] 答案 A. music videos
解释：YouTube表示他们从音乐视频中获得的广告收益与艺术家和唱片公司共享。
[4] 答案 C. Universal Music Group
解释：环球唱片是是全世界最大的唱片公司，也是是泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)等流行歌手的唱片发行方。
