--- title: YouTube: Pharrell Williams and Other Stars Threaten $1 Billion Lawsuit description: Lawyers for Pharrell Williams, the Eagles and dozens more top names say YouTube must remove about 20,000 videos or face legal action canonical: https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/ author: Elizabeth Barber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-23T03:33:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:05:24.367Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: YouTube Faces $1bn Music Lawsuit og:description: Lawyers for Pharrell Williams, Eagles and others want videos removed. og:url: https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eecb57489a3540f/69876c510b72e3d1556dc50d/pharrell-happy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ABC's "Good Morning America" - 2014 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: YouTube Faces $1bn Music Lawsuit twitter:description: Lawyers for Pharrell Williams, Eagles and others want videos removed. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eecb57489a3540f/69876c510b72e3d1556dc50d/pharrell-happy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # YouTube Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit From Pharrell Williams, the Eagles and Others by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 23, 2014 3:33 AM CUT  GMA gets "Happy" with a special live concert featuring Pharrell Williams on the roof and in the studio GMA gets "Happy" with a special live concert featuring Pharrell Williams on the roof and in the studioIda Mae Astute—ABC/Getty Images by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 23, 2014 3:33 AM CUT A representative for dozens of music superstars, including Pharrell Williams, is telling YouTube that it had better remove about 20,000 videos or face a $1 billion [lawsuit](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/pharrell-williams-lawyer-youtube-remove-759877 "undefined"). Music-business heavyweight Irving Azoff, who founded the new legal group Global Music Rights, has told the video juggernaut that it does not have performance rights to thousands of songs by about 40 of his clients, including the Eagles, Chris Cornell and John Lennon, the _Hollywood Reporter_ says. Meanwhile Google, which is planning to launch Music Key — its own subscription music service to compete with Spotify and Pandora — has said it does have the rights, prompting concerns of a music-industry showdown. The threat of a lawsuit against YouTube comes amid a broader debate about the rights of musicians in a freewheeling era of digital access to songs. In December, Consequence of Sound reported that Williams’ megahit, “Happy,” [generated](http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/12/43-million-pandora-streams-of-happy-earned-pharrell-williams-a-measly-2700/ "undefined") just $2,700 for 43 million plays on Pandora. \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/pharrell-williams-lawyer-youtube-remove-759877 "undefined")\] **READ NEXT** [Watch the 10 Best Unaired Saturday Night Live Sketches of 2014](http://www.time.com/3645537/best-unaired-snl-sketches-2014/ "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://www.time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/"},"headline":"YouTube Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit From Pharrell Williams, the Eagles and Others","datePublished":"2014-12-23T03:33:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:05:24.367Z","description":"Lawyers demand removal of around 20,000 videos","url":"https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/","keywords":["Music","Spotify","Pandora","YouTube","Pharrell Williams","lawsuits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eecb57489a3540f/69876c510b72e3d1556dc50d/pharrell-happy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eecb57489a3540f/69876c510b72e3d1556dc50d/pharrell-happy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ABC's \"Good Morning America\" - 2014","caption":"ABC's \"Good Morning America\" - 2014","creditText":"Ida Mae Astute—ABC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3645136/pharrell-williams-eagles-john-lennon-youtube-irving-azoff/","name":"YouTube Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit From Pharrell Williams, the Eagles and Others"}}]}] ```