YouTube says music artists' income could fall if it must pay more for streams

Platform claims proposed legislation could be so difficult to adhere to that it may have to block music content

YouTube has warned that legal efforts by the music industry to force it to pay more for the music it streams in the UK could backfire and have a “potentially devastating” effect on the income of artists and songwriters.

Google-owned YouTube has long been accused of exploiting the “value gap” in its business, a reference to what it makes from online advertising around music videos and the share of that income given to artists and labels.