It’s a sad day for YouTube users in the United Kingdom. The phenomenally popular video site has starting to pull all copyrighted music clips from its UK website, with most videos expected to be blocked from the site within the next two days.

The radical move comes as a result of the clash between Google-owned YouTube and the Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS). The PRS, a collecting society that represents music publishers, license with YouTube expired recently. Before any renewal agreement can be made the PRS want to see more money for the artists whose videos are posted on the site, and YouTube aren’t willing to pay the extra cash.

“The costs are simply prohibitive for us – under PRS’s proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback,” said YouTube’s director of video partnerships, Patrick Walker, in a posting on the website. “This was a painful decision, and we know the significant disappointment it will cause within the UK,” Walker said later in the posting.

YouTube’s decision has added further fuel to the fire, with PRS chief executive Steve Porter saying he was “outraged” by the decision. “We were shocked and disappointed to receive a call late this afternoon informing us of Google’s drastic action which we believe only punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent,” Porter told the ABC.

YouTube’s negotiations with PRS will continue, and hopefully soon an agreement between the two can be reached. But until then, YouTube will continue to block premium music videos “supplied or claimed by record labels” in the UK. “We hope that professional music videos will soon be back on YouTube for our users in the UK to enjoy,” Walker said. “And if and when that time comes, you can be sure that you’ll be the first to know.”