London - The chief economist for U.K. royalty agency MCPS-PRS Alliance and a Vanderbilt Ph.D. student have teamed to develop a proposal that would see new music technology start-ups offer equity in their companies to record labels in exchange for licenses to use their music. Will Page and David Touve's proposal stems from the reality that start-ups that legally license music pay more royalties than they generate in income in the early going, while those that forego licenses are sometimes sued out of business. This proposal would provide a payout for record labels, especially if a music start-up is later acquired, while giving new technologies a chance to legally gain exposure.

London - Google's YouTube has reached a deal with U.K. copyright societies for the rights to use some 10 million pieces of music in videos posted on the site, the Financial Times reported.