YouTube Suit: What's in the Best Interest of the Artists?

So the National Music Publishers Association has joined the multi-billion dollar lawsuit against YouTube, along with soccer's Premier League and Viacom. NMPA CEO David Israelite says: "We are joining the lawsuit to protect the interests of music publishers and songwriters, whose creative works are being used without permission or compensation by YouTube."

But what does he want? All the music clips to be pulled from YouTube -- which is pretty much the only outcome possible here. And how does that serve the songwriters and musicians?

A little personal story: I had never heard of Amy Winehouse. A friend of mine was a big fan, and he emailed me a couple of YouTube links to her music videos. Now, there is no telling how those videos got up there, but it's safe to say that her record company didn't put them there. But I went through about five of them, and came out an Amy Winehouse fan. I bought her music on line, and will see her live the first chance I get.

Take the clips off YouTube, and that doesn't happen.

(Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

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