YouTube will begin pulling music videos from artists including Adele and the Arctic Monkeys off its service by the end of this week - as its standoff with independent labels over royalty rates hits breaking point.

The Google-owned video giant will start blocking videos on its main platform within “a matter of days”, YouTube’s head of content and business operations Robert Kyncl has told the Financial Times.

The exec argues that 90% of the music industry has signed a ...