this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. full stream ahead — google‘s youtube enters the music streaming landscape to compete with spotify and apple. and could a very strong metal be russia's secret weapon against us sanctions? we explore the surprising role of titanium in trade between the two superpowers. and on the markets, asian stocks are on a bumpy ride. is there a trade truce or not between the us and china? investors are trying to navigate the messages coming from washington. google is making a fresh stab at the music streaming market today with a revamp of its youtube music service that combines audio and video content. it's a bid to take on the likes of spotify and apple and its latest attempt to get music fans to pay

for unlimited streaming. youtube wasn't created as a streaming music service but it's the world's most used website to listen to music legally. in 2017, the international federation of the phonographic industry estimated that around 1.3 billion people used the site for music. so, can youtube turn its huge user base into paying customers? a large part of the problem is that youtube doesn't cost anything to use. the international federation of the phonographic industry says that 85% of youtube users go there to listen to music for free. they're getting a plug, aren't they? the company is increasingly missing out on revenues from music streaming which, according to goldman sachs, are estimated to reach $28 billion by 2030. youtube has been very cagey about its subscriber numbers but we do know about its rivals and it's clear there is a lot of catching up to do. spotify revealed earlier this month that they had 75 million paid

subscribers while apple music recently announced it had over a0 million people signed up. with me is james erskine, director of social circle. good to see you, james, excuse my squeaky chair. what you make of this move on the part of youtube? will we pay them to listen to music? i don't think it matters whether we pay them. i think youtube are coming into this admittedly they are quite late to the party, and they think they are coming into three reasons, around the three stakeholders in the relationship, one is audiences, so we did ourown relationship, one is audiences, so we did our own little bit of analysis and normally around one third of trending videos on youtube are music or music related. the second one of the stakeholders is grand, every brand is asked what is your music strategy, what are you

doing in the music space? another thing with brands as well, and commerce, and that is around what is your audio strategy? people talk about share of the and there are still lots of opportunities for brands to jump on still lots of opportunities for brands tojump on an audio opportunity and audio ad revenue —— share of ear. something that you could have me able to capitalise on. what you're saying is this is actually about a business strategy that they have to be involved in because that is where the industry is headed, it isn't so much about them getting revenue in from people paying to listen to music? exactly. there is a third thing around this, what is the point of difference? if you are coming late, what can you offer that the other providers are not offering? i think it is around the recognising a creator, is what we do at social circle is marrying a rampant creators and we have heard of pop bands, we will not have heard

of pop bands, we will not have heard of doedee or other people who started life in youtube creating music, maybe evenjust started life in youtube creating music, maybe even just covers, started life in youtube creating music, maybe evenjust covers, not the own original music, and from what i read, that is what youtube is going to have, they are going to have an outlet for these music creators and when you see social networks like musically you can see how they plug the gap and their understanding of youth culture. our spotify and apple worried?” understanding of youth culture. our spotify and apple worried? i think they should be, google isn't beyond value, google plus, pixar, we have forgotten about almost, but i think when you to buy launching a new product people take up and listen, even youtube kid which is the number one i think in six or seven cups, now that youtube are launching. thinking about my kids alone, my younger ones no youtube have not heard of spotify and those kind of organisations— yet. i mean, they are very young. it is a strong brand.

hugely, and whenever there is a new board when the opportunity to engage with the brand, it also allows them with the brand, it also allows them with the brand, it also allows them with the google ecosystem, google and youtube ecosystem to start to join the dot along with the digital audio and the creator economy element. that is why things are happening. interesting, james, think you for sharing your thoughts. tell us you for sharing your thoughts. tell us what you think about this, do get in touch, #bbcthebriefing. let's stay with music. sony has just bought an iconic music publisher and record company. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. rico, who are they buying and why? nice to see you. well, the japanese entertainment giant sally is buying a controlling stake in emi music publishing for 2.3 billion us dollars as it looks to improve on its music portfolio. sony signed a deal with abu dhabi —based investment company mobodala to buy

his holding in emi, it still doesn't own that because the japanese firm already has a 40% stake in emi so the move is part of the company's plan to basically move away from making gadgets to focusing on gaming subscriptions and entertainment instead so this deal would combine sony's record label deep bench of artists from beyonce to raya carey, john legend, with emi's beatles, queen, carole king, coldplay, and david bowie. earlier this month the firm expanded its entertainment folio, buying a stake in peanuts, the company behind charlie brown and snoopy, for $185 million. this is a music marriage. perfect! for both companies. we love a wedding at the bbc, as you know. thank you, rico, good to see you. moving to russia 110w. moscow believes it has found a way

to fight back against us sanctions imposed on russia last month. russian lawmakers want to stop exports of titanium to the us — a metal heavily used by us aeroplane makers. but, as 0leg boldyrev reports from verkhnaya salda in the urals, it's a plan that could backfire. if you think oil and raw materials is all russia can export, think again. titanium isn't precious but knowing how to work with it is. here ina knowing how to work with it is. here in a small town called verkhnaya salda deep inside the urals region may have been working with the decades. is the world largest public titanium producer, keep up the american air planes are made here. translation: there was a monopoly, there is no competition and boeing has nowhere else to go to. but russia's relations with the united states are heated, after the latest round of us sanctions against russia arejust round of us sanctions against russia are just late and moz moscow

introduced a bill that would among other measures to supplies from this factory to america. engines, landing gear, wind components, americans would have to look elsewhere. these two massive bits of metal bill eventually hold together the wings of boeing 787 dreamliners. 0bviously any ban on exports to america will hurt american plane makers. the trouble is that this will also have the earnings of this company and the life of this little town. the company's leadership says plainly the suggestion that it can dispense with roughly 30% of its orders that is how much americans buying, is absurd. translation: sometimes politics can trump economic sense. there is no sound political motivation in this case and no economic sense either. the only explanation for this is a pew and progressive populism. -- pew. each morning at least one member of every family in this town goes to work at the titanium plant. verkhnaya salda

is what is called a mono town, it depends on one single business. normally mono towns and russia are grim and poor. not so here. it may not be wealthy but it isn't desperate. this volleyball playing and the entire modern sports centre is subsidised by titanium plant. workers briefly became alarmed at salaries and jobs would be under threat, they were told not to worry for now. translation macro i do think we should make enemies of anyone, particularly americans. if i was in the government, i wouldn't go down that route. we need this stability, this is a trade war, outcome will suffer. 75,000 tons of pressure carefully benz titanium into what will become a plane part. any raw move is an unforgivable error. there are suggestions russian parliament will soften the anti— sanctions law leaving it to the russian president to decide the precise countermeasures. the fate of these workers will be on vladimir putin's mind as he ponders his next

step. fascinating. now let's brief you some other business stories. america's former president and first lady, barack and michelle 0bama, have signed a multi—year deal to produce television shows and movies with the streaming service. a statement from netflix says the couple will work on documentaries and other features that highlight issues they pursued when in office. protests by truckers in brazil demanding a reduction in diesel prices have impacted the flow of goods at santos, latin america's largest port. santos port authority said the protests have restricted the arrival of goods to several terminals, as well as the dispatch of imported products to domestic destinations. it did not specify what kind of goods were affected. that is your business briefing. see

you ina that is your business briefing. see you in a moment. the government is to introduce new rules to curb pollution from household wood burners and fires. it's publishing a new clean air strategy which aims to reduce the amount of soot and harmful particles in the air which can cause serious health problems. 0ur environment correspondent roger harrabin has more. for the forthe air for the air has become a national crisis with angry parents demanding action. the government has been dragged through the courts over failures to tackle nitrogen dioxide pollution, mainly from vehicles. today's consultations over concentrates mostly on other polluters. take solid fuel fires,

the problem in winter. the government says it will prevent the dirtiest of fuels being burned. but it doesn't say how. wood burners at the air problems too, a government sources they would not be banned. but people would be encouraged to burn try would it pollutes less. campaigners say the plans so far are too vague. ministers reject that. by taking steps both to reduce petrol and diesel cars on our roads but also to deal with everything from wood—burning stoves to the pollution generated by a money in agricultural land, we are doing everything we can in order to ensure the next generation live healthier lives. this is one area where the government has promised decisive action, farms of the greatest producers of ammonia, a gas which produces particles which get sucked into the lungs. farmers would pay to clea n into the lungs. farmers would pay to clean up. but the air pollution issueis clean up. but the air pollution issue is not settled yet. more on

that story and all of the other big stories coming up in breakfast. that is in seven minutes time. dan and lobbies today. —— louise minchin today. they'll also have more on panorama's special investigation into the grenfell tower fire and its finding that the insulation that burned out of control had never passed the required safety test. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: one year after 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber at manchester arena, friends and family pay tributes to their loved ones. south korea's president prepares to meet donald trump as the two leaders try to put the summit with kim jong—un back on track. a warning to tehran — america's secretary of state vows to impose "the strongest sanctions in history" on iran. now it is time look at the stories that are making

the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the the sun in the uk which is among the many outlets covering the first day of the grenfell tower inquiry and some of the victims' heartbreaking stories. 0nto the gulf news and the trump administration's threat to tehran of the strongest sanctions in history if it doesn't meet its demands over iran's nuclear programme. business insider covers the 0bamas' netflix deal. it says people who don't share their politics are threatening to boycott the streaming service over their involvement. the telegraph has one take on another well—covered story. "the pope says it's ok to be gay" is its headline — we'll explain that for you.

and the south china morning post poses a question — would you be honest at no—staff kiosks? it tells how companies in china are installing vending machines that rely on trust. so let's begin. with me is iain anderson, founder of the international communications agency, cicero group. let's get stuck in. we begin with a story that is good to dominate in the uk, with good reason. we are coming to the one—year anniversary of the grenfell tower tragedy. inquiry has begun and started with some very heartfelt stories, tragic stories.