YouTube pays $8 billion to music in 12 months
YouTube transferred more than 8 billion dollars to music companies between July 2024 and June 2025. Global music head Lyor Cohen revealed the payment at a Miami conference on Wednesday. The amount reflects earnings from advertisements and premium memberships that eliminate commercials from the service.
The figure increased by 2 billion dollars from the 6 billion dollars YouTube reported for the twelve months ending in June 2022. Cohen stated the platform aims to surpass Spotify as the largest financial contributor to recording artists and publishers worldwide. Spotify distributed $10 billion to the music industry in 2024.
YouTube serves audiences in over 100 nations with content available in 80 languages. The company attracted more than 125 million paying subscribers to its music and premium services. Nielsen research showed YouTube captured 13.1 percent of American television viewing in August, ahead of Disney and Netflix.
The platform generated $9.8 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2025. YouTube paid creators and media organizations $100 billion over the previous 4 years. The service rolled out artificial intelligence tools last month that convert speech into musical arrangements.
