YouTube told to remove music videos or face $1 billion lawsuit

YouTube has been warned to remove 20,000 videos by artists including Pharrell Williams, John Lennon and the Eagles or face a $1 billion lawsuit.

Irving Azoff and his company, Global Music Rights, are said to be representing around 40 music stars who claim the video-sharing site does not have the performance rights for thousands of songs on its streaming service, according to Hollywood Reporter.

Mr Azoff has reportedly claimed that although YouTube may have negotiated deals with the record labels to obtain the rights for the public performances of the videos, they have not done the same with the artists.

He said his clients wanted to pursue YouTube, rather than other sharing sites, because it has been the "least cooperative" and is "the worst offender".

The lawsuit threat comes as Google prepares to launch its own subscription music service to compete with Spotify and Pandora.