Lady Gaga and Sir Paul McCartney are among the musicians who have signed a petition urging European leaders to change laws concerning YouTube compensation rights.
The letter was published on Wednesday (29Jun16) and directed toward Jean Claude-Juncker, the president of the European Commission, asking leaders to create stricter copyright laws for user-uploaded music streaming sites such as YouTube.
In the missive, obtained by Billboard, the signees state these online services are "unfairly siphoning value away from the music community".
"This is a pivotal moment for music," the letter reads. "Consumption is exploding. Fans are listening to more music than ever before. Consumers have unprecedented opportunities to access the music they love, whenever and wherever they want to do so. But the future is jeopardised by a substantial ‘value gap’ caused by user upload services such as Google’s YouTube that are unfairly siphoning value away from the music community and its artists and songwriters".
In addition to Gaga and McCartney, more than 1,000 artists have signed the letter, including Ed Sheeran, Christina Aguilera, Calvin Harris, Elton John, Bruno Mars, Steven Tyler, the 1975, David Guetta, and deadmau5.
The petition to the European Commission comes days after a number of major artists signed a similar open letter to the U.S. Congress requesting changes to laws surrounding how YouTube bosses compensate musicians.
Meanwhile, Gaga has reportedly experienced heat for speaking out on another important issue, as it is claimed Chinese leaders have banned her from entering China after she met with the Dalai Lama to discuss peace and the importance of compassion at the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Sunday (26Jun16) in Indianapolis.
