YouTube's Use of DMCA Safe Harbors Cost US Music Industry Up to $1B in 2015, Phoenix Center Says

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 safe harbor provisions let YouTube evade paying market music licensing rates, costing the U.S. music industry between $650 million and $1 billion in annual royalty revenue during 2015, the Phoenix Center reported. The group did its study using “accepted economy modeling techniques” to simulate how YouTube's service affects revenue. There's a “sizeable effect [which] lends credence to the recording industry's complaints about YouTube's use of the safe harbor,” said Chief Economist George Ford in a Wednesday news release. YouTube owner Google didn't comment.