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source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

YouTube has lifted a block on users viewing official music videos after the website reached an agreement with songwriters' group PRS for Music.

In March, the service blocked thousands of music videos to UK users after failing to reach agreement over fees.YouTube, owned by Google, is paying an undisclosed lump sum to PRS, backdated until January and lasting until 2012.

Adam Shaw from PRS for Music told the BBC that he was pleased that an agreement had finally been reached. "We have 60,000 song-writer and composer members and many of them don't earn very much money at all - 90% of them earn less then £5,000 a year," he said. "The money we receive is really their living."

YouTube's decision in March theoretically blocked all premium music video content - owned by record labels - in the UK. However, many fan videos and official videos continued to be available on the site, including some sanctioned by the record labels themselves.

However, YouTube said the "tens of thousands" of videos which had disappeared "will come back over the next few days".

"The music videos are an extremely popular part of YouTube and this deal doesn't only cover the music videos but also music included in TV programmes like the X Factor and also for the inclusion of music in user videos as well," YouTube's Patrick Walker told the BBC.

The deal will also mean that new material will appear on YouTube as the site signs partnerships with other record labels and guest editors introduce their favourite videos.

YouTube is the world's most popular online video site but has been under increased pressure to generate more revenue since its purchase by Google for $1.65bn (then £875m) in 2006. Services such as Pandora.com, MySpace UK and Imeem have also had issues securing licensing deals in the UK in the past 12 months.