Warner Music Group ordered YouTube on Saturday to remove all music videos by its artists from the popular online video-sharing site after contract negotiations broke down, Reuters reports.
The order could affect hundreds of thousands of videos clips, as it covers Warner Music's recorded artists as well as the rights for songs published by its Warner/Chappell unit, which includes many artists not signed to Warner Music record labels.
Red Hot Chili Peppers and rapper T.I. are two of Warners biggest names.
Reuters says talks fell apart early on Saturday because Warner wants a bigger share of the huge revenue potential of YouTube's massive visitor traffic, although no details are available of Warner's demands.
Warner Musicwas the first major media company to negotiate a deal with YouTube in 2006. Warners executives believe that deal gave the site credibility which was germain to Google buying YouTube shortly after for US$1.65 billion.