Plans under discussion include: a partnership with Hulu, the online television and film joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal; the creation of a premium service on YouTube, Google's video sharing site; and a standalone venture between some or all of the four largest recorded music groups.

Industry members had hailed deals struck with YouTube last year as a new way to profit from the popularity of professional music videos and from the soundtracks to amateur efforts on user-generated content sites.

However, some are now questioning whether either side has made much money from arrangements that require YouTube to share advertising revenues and, in many cases, pay a few 10ths of a cent to the music company each time a video is streamed, regardless of how much advertising is sold.