Video sites such as YouTube will be forced to pay more to musicians and record companies under plans to reform European copyright laws.
The draft directive will also require publishers and producers to tell performers or authors what profits their works have generated.
The music industry has long criticised YouTube for failing to pay enough for content such as music.
News publishers will also be recognised as rights holders for the first time.
The body which represents the British music industry said this week that YouTube was still not paying artists enough for their music.
UK Music said the Google-owned site was “yet to deliver fair financial returns for rights owners and creators, artists, composers, songwriters and publishers”.
The band Two Door Cinema Club said: “I don’t think things at the minute are fair. YouTube don’t pay a fair royalty.”
In April Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx launched a campaign to get Google to pay artists more.
YouTube, which carries videos as well as audio-only content, makes money by selling advertising and then divides profits among rights owners.
Its business model differs from music streaming sites such as Spotify and Apple Music, which pay record companies a small sum each time a song is played.
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