EMI and YouTube shake hands and hips

EMI has signed an agreement with Google's video-sharing website YouTube to allow its users to view "authorised" videos and recordings from the music firm's roster of artists.

It's the last of the Big Four to do so, with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner having already jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to claw back control of multifarious online digital content.

The firm has been directing much of its attention in recent months towards its business relationship with Apple and was the first of the Big Four to sign a DRM-free music deal with the computer giant.

EMI said it is working closely on business models with YouTube with the ambitious aim of fulfilling customer demand, pushing up revenue, and keeping artists satisfied.

"Through this agreement EMI Music and its artists will be fairly compensated for their work," said the firm's CEO Eric Nicoli.

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

User-generated content is a grey area being heavily explored by all the majors right now.

EMI said it plans to use YouTube's content management tools to identify, track, and monetise copyrighted content. The tools will also give the firm powers to remove material from the video-sharing website.

For Google, the deal demonstrates yet another tightening of the screws to legitimise the digital content it provides via YouTube.

It's hardly a surprising move given the level of copyright infringement lawsuits currently hitting the hugely popular website.

EMI band Ok Go caused a mild sensation on YouTube last year with its music video that featured running machines on which band members busted some interesting moves. ®