If you’ve noticed something missing from your favourite music cable channels, you’re not going crazy, particularly if you’ve been waiting for the latest Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift or 5 Seconds of Summer video.
As The Music Network reports, music videos from some of the world’s biggest acts have been banned from appearing on any Foxtel-owned music channels for the past two weeks as a result of an ongoing dispute between Foxtel and Universal Music.
For those not in the know, Universal Music just so happens to be the world’s biggest record label, so any kind of dispute is obviously troublesome for a company that boasts not one, but five music video channels.
Foxtel owns and operates Channel [V], [V] Hits, CMC, Max, and Smooth, while its Foxtel Tunes audio channel is a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment Australia and Universal Music Australia.
“Foxtel has been in negotiations with Universal Music for some weeks to resolve a commercially viable agreement to continue to showcase Universal Music artists and music on our five music channels,” a spokesperson told Tone Deaf.
“Regrettably we have not resolved our commercial issues, which has forced us to pull all Universal acts from our contemporary music channels. Foxtel Arts and Foxtel’s audio streaming service Foxtel Tunes are unaffected. The Foxtel music channels can continue without Universal artists however, it is not our desired outcome.”
Naturally, chart programs on the channels are in disarray. The Music Network contacted both companies, but executives are remaining tight-lipped about just what caused the dispute and management have not commented.
According to industry insiders, the dispute has likely been brewing for months and is likely centred on artist royalty payments and related commercial terms. It’s not clear if Universal has barred Foxtel from playing their artists or Foxtel is refusing to play them.
It’s particularly bad news for Channel [V], Foxtel’s flagship music channel, which is facing audience figures that dropped 28 percent in the past six months compared to the same period last year, as reported by OzTAM.
MTV Australia seems to be unaffected by the dispute and is running chart program normally, with over half of their Top 20 presented by Universal and EMI artists. The real winner, however, is Sony, whose artists account for 75 percent of the songs played on Foxtel in the past two weeks.
