YouTube’s Annual Music Industry Payout Hits $8 Billion

YouTube has announced it paid more than $8 billion in revenue to the music industry between July 2024 and June 2025.

Trending up:

• YouTube paid $6 billion in revenue to the music industry between July 2021 and June 2022.

• The figure was $4 billion for the 12 months leading up to June 2021.

• As a comparison, earlier this year Spotify announced a $10 billion payment to the music industry in 2024.

Momentum:

• YouTube says the momentum is coming from its twin-engine revenue model of ads and subscriptions.

• The platform has 125 million Music and Premium subscribers globally, including users on trials.

• The company also reported that it has two billion logged-in viewers who watch music videos every month.

What they said:

• Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music: “This number is not an endpoint; it represents meaningful, sustained progress in our journey to build a long-term home for every artist, songwriter, and publisher on the global stage.”