UK YouTube users will be delighted with the news that music videos are on there way back to the UK site….did it ever leave?

As an occasional user on the highly popular and Google owned site, I would suggest that the impact has not been very apparent to me. Fan videos seem to have filled a large gap in interim demand and whilst it will be nice to see the official videos back, it is unlikely that this writer will spend any more or less time on the site as a result of the deal.

The news which has been extensively reported by the BBC will come as a relief to those artists who have been blocked from broadcasting on the UK YouTube site since March.

A representative of the Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS), Adam Walker told the BBC "We have 60,000 song writer and composer members and many of them don’t earn much money at all – 90% of them earn less than £5k per year".

The agreement is reported to involve YouTube paying the PRS a substantial undisclosed fee which has been backdated to March and under the new terms will last until 2012. PRS who looks after the interests of thousands of songwriters and composers is said to be pleased over the agreement although neither they nor YouTube would comment on the details of the agreement.

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The site itself hasn’t lacked in content since the ban and occasional users could be forgiven for thinking it was never enforced. Fan videos and some official videos continued to be available on the site and the BBC have reported that they may even have been endorsed by the record labels themselves. EMI owned parlophone became the UK’s most popular channel receiving over 240 million hits despite the ban.

The ban which occurred in March appears to have been driven by the huge differential in YouTube’s then existing arrangements and the demands of the PRS, which effectively forced YouTube into enforcing a ban until such time as the dispute was resolved.

Now that YouTube are committed to the music of the UK site once more, users may expect to see them partnering with record labels and giving guest editors the opportunity to introduce their favourite videos…

It has to be said that my own allegiances to the YouTube site has been largely created by the wish to playback some of my favourite X Factor moments, and whilst this has not seemed to be lacking during the last several months perhaps the feed quality may now improve.

The UK site could be regarded as quite a minority market in terms of YouTube’s overall and global positioning, it will be interesting to see what benefits (if any) the users receive as a result of the ban being lifted, and indeed whether YouTube has retained the motivation following this latest and by all accounts substantial expense to concentrate their efforts on such a minority sector having continued to prosper for several months without the hassle from this, our little island?