 Jack White is a platinum selling musician whose videos garner millions of views on YouTube. But he's also an independent artist, and as such, he could disappear from YouTube in some countries in a matter of days. Here's what's happening. According to the Financial Times, YouTube is preparing an ad-free premium streaming music service, which it will begin testing internally with plans to launch later this summer. As a part of that, YouTube is creating new licensing deals with music labels. And according to YouTube's head of content and business operations, if labels don't come to terms, then YouTube will block their videos from the site in their respective countries. And not just the new premium tier, but its ad-supported parts as well. So far, record labels representing 90% of the music industry have agreed to the new terms. But that leaves 10% that are holding out for a better deal. So who's in that 10%? Independent labels like Domino and XL. And between the two, they've got some pretty big names. Others have previously mentioned Jack White, as well as Adele, The Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A., Tyler the Creator, and Vampire Weekend. A source familiar with the situation has confirmed to The Verge that most of the details in the Financial Times story were accurate. YouTube doesn't want to launch a paid service and then be forced to show some videos in ad-supported mode. Or offer users the ability to take videos offline but not be able to offer that for big-name artists. It's a tough situation. YouTube is taking a very hard line approach, but a lot can change between now and the launch of its new service. YouTube is far and away the world's biggest online video platform, a principal driver of attention is singles, and behind radio is the biggest discovery platform for new music. So, it's no wonder YouTube thinks it can play a little hardball.
 Jack White is a platinum selling musician whose videos garner millions of views on YouTube.
 But he's also an independent artist, and as such, he could disappear from YouTube in some
 countries in a matter of days.
 Here's what's happening.
 According to the Financial Times, YouTube is preparing an ad-free premium streaming
 music service, which it will begin testing internally with plans to launch later this
 summer.
 As a part of that, YouTube is creating new licensing deals with music labels.
 And according to YouTube's head of content and business operations, if labels don't come
 to terms, then YouTube will block their videos from the site in their respective countries.
 And not just the new premium tier, but its ad-supported parts as well.
 So far, record labels representing 90% of the music industry have agreed to the new
 terms.
 But that leaves 10% that are holding out for a better deal.
 So who's in that 10%?
 Independent labels like Domino and XL.
 And between the two, they've got some pretty big names.
 Others have previously mentioned Jack White, as well as Adele, The Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.,
 Tyler the Creator, and Vampire Weekend.
 A source familiar with the situation has confirmed to The Verge that most of the details in the
 Financial Times story were accurate.
 YouTube doesn't want to launch a paid service and then be forced to show some videos in
 ad-supported mode.
 Or offer users the ability to take videos offline but not be able to offer that for
 big-name artists.
 It's a tough situation.
 YouTube is taking a very hard line approach, but a lot can change between now and the launch
 of its new service.
 YouTube is far and away the world's biggest online video platform, a principal driver
 of attention is singles, and behind radio is the biggest discovery platform for new
 music.
 So, it's no wonder YouTube thinks it can play a little hardball.