YouTube Red Agrees to Pay Content Creators During Free Trial Period

Ad-free subscription service faced backlash after going live in the U.S.

YouTube Red, the streaming platform’s new ad-free subscription service, went live in the U.S. on Wednesday, the company announced.

However, YouTube faced backlash after content creators raised concerns that they would not be paid for clips created during a one-month free trial period offered by the service. The company promptly announced that creators would still be paid during the introductory period.

“Creators are the lifeblood of YouTube,” the company said in a blog post. “So with Google Play Music subscribers instantly joining YouTube Red, we will pay a portion of the revenue we receive from these subscribers to our creators on day 1. Even with 30-day free trials, our creator community will make as much or more as they would have without YouTube Red.”

YouTube creators earn revenue from the ads played before their videos. Many raised concerns that the removal of the ads would impact their bottom lines.

The move by YouTube is similar to one by Apple in which the company agreed to pay creators during a free three-month trial of its new music streaming service only after Taylor Swift threatened to pull her catalog in an open letter to the company on Tumblr.

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