Nikki Sixx, co-founder of Mötley Crüe, is calling for YouTube to pay out more for video streams. Sixx is launching a campaign with a group of other musicians this week, firstly targeting YouTube and then on to US legislations.

Nikki Sixx and Sixx:AM band member James Michael are asking the video streaming site to match the royalties of other streaming sites. In an interview with the Guardian, Sixx said, “YouTube is paying out about a sixth of what Spotify and Apple pay artists. We are not telling them how to run their business. We’re saying treat artists fairly the way other streaming services are. And by the way, we are a big part of what built your business: music is the No 1 most-searched thing on YouTube.”

This comes at a time where the debate of artists being treated fairly by sites such as this has been much discussed amongst legislators and even backed with a petition signed by artists such as Rod Stewart and Billy Joel. Currently, sites like YouTube are protected by safe harbour laws from any copyright infringement.