I've heard the "oh look Google is being evil, unlike what they said" bandied about a lot over the years and found the reasons given fatuous, to be honest.
This is the first time it's actually struck true for me.
"Nice publicity we're giving you there on Youtube, isn't it? (And getting something out of it in return, I guess.) But it'd be a shame if your exposure on YouTube suddenly went away, wouldn't it?
Now sign on the dotted line, you little fuck."
That said, the music industry's attitude to internet streaming has always struck me as greedy and unworkable. Adding to that, the music industry are grade-A scumbags, by and large, stealing (in the real sense of the word) copyright from hopeful musicians and screwwing them over and leaving them, often enough, with nothing to show but debt.
That Google is joining in the scumbaggery, is a clear betrayal of their 'motto'.