Consider this a holding statement. Seven weeks after it began blocking premium music to its users in Britain and Germany, YouTube is apparently still in negotiation with the countries’ respective main royalties bodies.

—Announcing payments of £117 million to members for Q1, the UK’s PRS For Music, whose online licence demands £0.0022 per track, added: “Talks between PRS for Music and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to discuss the licensing of YouTube following Google’s decision to block premium video content on the service in the UK are yet to reach a satisfactory conclusion.” Release.

—In Germany, the CEO of the GEMA society, which charges a ridiculous €0.12 (£0.11) per track, told its annual press conference: “We’re talking with YouTube again, negotiations are taking place, and there may be high-level talks in the coming week.” Via Reuters.

While online services like YouTube, challenged to make enough money from ads to pay for the tracks they use, lobby for rates reform, the clock is ticking to the June 31 expiration of PRS’ joint online licence, under which rates are governed. But the date is considered arbitrary, only removing PRS’ power to legally enforce collection of the agreed fees. Rates discussions will likely roll on despite the impending date, motivated more by online services’ own pressing need to restructure the amounts they pay for music. Neither PRS nor Spotify, which is attracting all the buzz at the moment, have chosen to disclose to us the detail of their recently agreed licence.

• Now YouTube Stops The Music In Germany; Rates ‘50 Times Higher’ Than UK
• Interview: Andrew Shaw, Online MD, PRS For Music: Rates Reform Under The Spotlight
• Why YouTube’s PRS Spat Is Just One Battle In The Coming Online Music War
• Interview: Patrick Walker, YouTube: PRS Rates ‘Ridiculous’, Would Lose Us Money