YouTube And PRS Resolve 'Complex' Dispute Over Royalties

Thousands of official music videos are to return to YouTube after the video-sharing website resolved a dispute with the songwriters' association, PRS for Music.

YouTube stripped the videos from its UK website in March after it failed to reach an agreement with PRS over royalties.

But the dispute, which attracted widespread criticism, has ended after the website agreed to pay an undisclosed lump sum to PRS as part of a deal lasting until 2012.

"We are pleased to announce that an agreement for a licence has been reached and both PRS for Music and YouTube are happy that the negotiations resulted in a mutually acceptable deal,” YouTube said in a statement.

"As a result of the new agreement, premium music videos in the UK are coming back to YouTube - this is good for songwriters and composers, music fans and YouTube."

The videos are due to be reinstated on the video-sharing website over the coming days.

In addition to existing videos, fans can also expect to see new material from other record labels as a result of the deal.