Law change 'could force YouTube offline'

YouTube has become a very important promotional tool for musicians in recent years, with many using the site to showcase their material.

However, campaigners believe that proposed changes to the Digital Economy Bill could put the future of the site at risk.

An amendment has been tabled in the House of Lords which will give record companies the right to demand the removal of any material they own.

This means that YouTube, which hosts thousands of copyrighted music videos, could be among the big names to suffer.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, is one of the people to criticise the plans, as he believes it would give too much power to large copyright-holding companies.

"Individuals and small businesses would be open to massive copyright attacks that could shut them down, just by the threat of action," he commented.

The Internet Service Providers Association added that the amendment is "misjudged and disproportionate".

This week, research from Sysomos found that almost a third of all videos viewed on YouTube are music-related.

Product category: Electronic musical instruments