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# YouTube Says It Paid Music Industry $3B Last Year, But Didn’t  Share The Stat We Really Need Know
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/youtube-says-it-paid-music-industry-3b-last-year-but-didnt-share-the-stat-we-really-need-know/
- Published: 2020-02-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-02-17T14:21:40.000Z
- Description: YouTube payouts to the music industry topped $3 billion in 2019, according to CEO Susan Wojcicki.
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Uncategorized, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 09:55

YouTube payouts to the music industry topped $3 billion in 2019, according to CEO Susan Wojcicki.

Overall, YouTube says it has paid musicians and the music industry $12 billion since it’s inception. Yearly payments are accelerating thanks to continued growth in both overall users and subscribers at the Google-owned platform.

“YouTube offers twin engines for revenue with advertising and subscribers, paying out more than $3 billion to the music industry last year from ads and subscriptions,” [wrote](https://youtube.googleblog.com/2020/02/youtube-at-15-my-personal-journey.html?ref=hypebot.com) the CEO. “We’re also partnering with artists to support and amplify their work through every phase of their career.”

## Is $3 billion enough?

$3 billion and $12 billion are big numbers that global head of music Lyor Cohen can use alongside YouTube’s proven ability to break new artists to lead a music industry charm offensive.

**[“Why YouTube and the Music Biz Are Getting Along Better Than Ever” ](https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8550838/lyor-cohen-youtube-music-billboard-cover-story-interview-2020?ref=hypebot.com)**blares a recent Billboard headline.

**Need more proof of YouTube’s importance to music?** A Nielsen analysis showed that artists who upload a video for a song on YouTube see a 40% increase in audio streams across all platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

![](https://www.oberlo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Youtube-statistics-01.png)

## **With 2 billion monthly users is $3 billion a fair amount for YouTube to pay for music each year?**

Add YouTube’s publically stated 2019 ad revenue of $15.15 billion to its revenue from its 20 million paying global subscribers calculated at a conservative $3 per, and the company generated more than $15.21 billion in total revenue last year.

A $3 billion payment for music represents less than 20% of total 2019 revenue. Compare that to Spotify who is contractually obligated to pay labels and music publishers a combined total of more than 60% of its revenue and YouTube’s 20% appears disingenuous.

But much of YouTube’s revenue is generated by ads that run alongside videos that are not at all music-related.

Back in 2016, before Cohen’s ‘show us some love’ campaign began, a YouTube executive countered music industry claims that 40% of YouTube traffic was music-related, with this:

> **“Despite the billions of views music generates, the average YouTube user spends just one hour watching music on YouTube a month. Compare that to the 55 hours a month the average Spotify subscriber consumes.”**

Other estimates at the time put the percentage of music-related YouTube views in the 5 -12% range

But that number seems very low when you factor in this stat, as of Jan 2020:

## 93% of the most-watched videos were music videos.

So is YouTube paying musicians and the music industry fairly?

We can’t know until Google shares one more stat.

### Dear YouTube,

## **What percentage of total YouTube views that contain music?**