May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc.'s YouTube, the most- popular video-sharing Web site, struck an agreement with EMI Group Plc to show clips from artists including Coldplay and Fat Boy Slim.

Consumers will be able to watch professionally produced videos and user-generated spots featuring EMI music, San Bruno, California-based YouTube said today in an e-mailed statement. EMI, YouTube and musicians will share advertising sales.

YouTube now has partnerships with the four top music companies. Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group Corp. agreed to work with YouTube before the company was bought by Google for $1.65 billion last year. The deal stems the threat of lawsuits for using copyrighted material at a time when Google already is fighting claims from Viacom Inc.

``It's good to be legal and not have to worry about these issues,'' said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch in New York. ``For them to offer this content is yet another reason for users to go to the site.''

Shares of Google fell 69 cents to $497.91 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have climbed 8.1 percent this year. EMI fell 0.25 penny to 275 pence in London and has risen 3.8 percent this year.

EMI, the world's third-largest music label, will work with Google to develop a business model for music videos featured in user-created content. London-based EMI will use YouTube's software for identifying material it owns on the site and asking for clips that breach its copyrights to be removed.

Fair Compensation

``Through this agreement EMI Music and its artists will be fairly compensated,'' EMI Chief Executive Officer Eric Nicoli said in the statement.

EMI is in the process of putting clips on YouTube and the ``majority'' of its videos will be available, Chris Maxcy, YouTube's director of business development, said in an e-mailed statement.

The agreement gives EMI more opportunities to get its music in front of YouTube's more than 160 million users. It also means EMI can tap people that will watch YouTube clips on their cell phones and televisions, Gartenberg said.

EMI, which agreed to be purchased by Guy Hands's Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. on May 21, is looking for new revenue streams as its recorded music sales drop. EMI announced plans to offer its catalog, excluding music by The Beatles, without digital rights management software in April and yesterday Apple Inc. began selling digital music from EMI without copyright protection software on its iTunes store.

The record company posted a net loss of 288.5 million pounds last year. EMI reported an ``unprecedented'' decline in the market and ``exceptionally high'' product returns when the company cut its forecasts in February.

Apple Deal

YouTube had 160.8 million users around the world in March, according to Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc., which tracks Web use. That's more than seven times the number a year earlier.

Apple, the Cupertino, California-based maker of the iPod music player, yesterday said it would carry clips from YouTube on its two-month-old digital-television box starting in June. YouTube in November reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless to show its most popular video clips on mobile phones.

Viacom, owner of MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, filed a suit against Google and YouTube in federal court in New York in March, seeking $1 billion in damages. Google says it isn't breaking copyright laws because it removes clips when copyright owners protest.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Thaw in San Francisco at jthaw@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 31, 2007 16:22 EDT