YouTube and PRS Make Peace as Musicians Protest About Plans to Punish File Sharers

Thousands of music videos pulled from YouTube in a royalties dispute will go back online after peace broke out today between the website and the music industry. A new licensing deal with PRS for Music, the trade body that collects music royalties, has brought the six-month dispute to an end. But while this conflict has been resolved, another dispute has erupted over the digital future of the music industry. A rift has opened between music’s creators and its record labels, with a broad alliance of musicians, songwriters and producers fiercely criticising the business secretary Lord Mandelson’s plans to cut off the broadband connections of internet users who illegally download music. In a statement seen by the Guardian, a coalition of bodies representing a range of stars including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn attacks the proposals as expensive, illogical and extraordinarily negative