AceShowbiz -

YouTube is facing a war against many musicians like Pharrell Williams, Eagles, Smokey Robinson, and Chris Cornell. The video-sharing website is asked to take down around 20,000 videos due to lack of performance rights.

Irving Azoff threatens to serve YouTube with a $1 billion lawsuit if the situation is not resolved. The music industry heavyweight represents over 40 artists including the late John Lennon via his Global Music Rights in this major legal battle.

The dispute comes after YouTube announced a new Music Key subscription service to compete with Pandora and Spotify. However, compared to the other streaming services, YouTube is the "least cooperative and the company our clients feel are the worst offenders," Azoff told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's also their attitude."

"The way fans listen to music is evolving daily," he also said. "The trampling of writers' rights in the digital marketplace without any regard to their contribution to the creative process will no longer be tolerated."

In response, Google lawyer David Kramer called Global Music Rights' legal position "misguided," and argued that the group hadn't even properly identified the works at issue. "It is disingenuous that they can keep their hands over eyes until we tell them the URL," GMR attorney Howard King fired back. "They know where it is. We don't want this to become whack-a-mole."