Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, U2 among 180 artists petitioning YouTube for proper compensation

Taylor Swift, who once removed her entire catalog from Spotify and criticised them for not fairly compensating artists, has joined a bunch of other musicians to sign a petition calling for a reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The petition, organized by producer Irving Azoff, claims that YouTube has provided a "safe harbor" for copyright infringement under the current writing of the DMCA.

The copyright law signed in 1998 by Bill Clinton has been allowing the website to serve copyrighted music without paying royalties to the artists or their labels, reported Ace Showbiz.

"(The DMCA) has allowed major tech companies to grow and generate huge profits by creating ease of use for consumers to carry almost every recorded song in history in their pocket via a smartphone, while songwriters' and artists' earnings continue to diminish," the petition reads. "Music consumption has skyrocketed, but the monies generated by individual writers and artists for that consumption has plummeted."

Swift joined music's big names including Paul McCartney, U2, Lionel Richie and even her nemesis Katy Perry who also demand the DMCA to be amended. The petition, signed by 180 performers and songwriters, will be published in issues of Politico, The Hill and other Washington DC-based publications throughout the week.