The Financial Times reports that YouTube’s rumoured streaming music service has hit a crucial milestone this week by locking down a deal with Merlin, the network that represents the licensing rights for a huge swath of indie labels.
Over the summer, negotiations between YouTube and many important indie labels broke down. The labels complained that they were getting a raw deal from YouTube. To coerce labels into playing along, YouTube began threatening that it would block indie label videos if they refused.
The details of the deal are still hazy, but what’s important is that it sets the stage for a launch of YouTube Music Key — or whatever this new service will be called. [Financial Times]