YouTube's $1 Billion Royalties Are Not Enough, Says Music Industry (bbc.com)

YouTube said Tuesday that it has paid the music industry over one billion dollars in advertising revenue in the past 12 months. The music industry thinks that sum is not enough. From a report on BBC: "Google has issued more unexplained numbers on what it claims YouTube pays the music industry," said a spokesperson for the global music body, the IFPI. "The announcement gives little reason to celebrate, however. With 800 million music users worldwide, YouTube is generating revenues of just over $1 per user for the entire year. "This pales in comparison to the revenue generated by other services, ranging from Apple to Deezer to Spotify. For example, in 2015 Spotify alone paid record labels some $2bn, equivalent to an estimated $18 per user." In his blog post, Mr Kyncl conceded that the current model was not perfect, arguing: "There is a lot of work that must be done by YouTube and the industry as a whole. "But we are excited to see the momentum," he added.

Comments

Here's an idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Cut out the greedy RIAA pigs and give the money straight to the artist.

Re:Here's an idea

[The-Ixian]

Everyone hates the RIAA, but the fact is without the marketing by these entities you would never have found your "favorite" bands

I disagree.

While it may be true that you may be initially steered in the general direction of good music, you rarely ever hear good music in places where big budget marketing is.

For example, I heard Metallica on the radio when I was young and I liked it. But then my own research led to Megadeth which led to metal shows where I learned about bands like Fear Factory which led to euro metal like In Flames which led to other record labels like Century Media and Nuclear Blast records and all of those artists, etc, etc.

While it is impossible for me to know for sure, I would like to believe that the RIAA had nothing to do with my music listening evolution. At the very least, they haven't received any money from me in quite a long time as I buy directly from the artist, from emusic.com or by just browsing the second hand CDs at the local shop.

Re:Here's an idea

[drakaan]

...or bands that we find via something like YouTube. That's the real reason the RIAA is trying to squeeze Google. They don't like the deal they got with Apple's iTunes, and don't want to be even *more* left behind. They failed to embrace online digital distribution when customers initially clamored for it, tried to sue their way out of it being possible, and now are scrambling to try and figure out how to claw their way back to the same type of margins they once had when they controlled distribution and marketing.

Re:Here's an idea

[110010001000]

You aren't cool enough to understand the brilliance of the underground players I am talking about, so I won't bother. As a special snowflake, my music tastes aren't swayed by marketing at all. I am real hard core and listen to music based on my deep understanding of the art.

Re:Here's an idea

[AthanasiusKircher]

However, many independent artists would leap at the change to sign with a label, since 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

THIS. People always make the mistake of looking at high revenues that big-name artists get and dream of doing that themselves.

But that's kinda like dreaming of playing for the NBA or NFL or whatever -- sure, it happens, but the 99% of the kids out there playing high school sports will never have a chance at those sorts of salaries.

It is common for creative people to assume that they create the only value that matters, and that marketing, promotion, and distribution are all worthless.

Exactly. There's this new myth of "YouTube-o-genesis" -- just put your stuff up on YouTube, and users can "discover you," and then you start raking in the big bucks, no labels or whatever needed.

And yes, that HAS happened. But for every sudden "YouTube sensation," there are 10,000 people out there who are uploading stuff that gets 5 views only from their friends. And among those 10,000 unlucky people are usually loads of talented folks... they just need some help getting attention.

Labels can still be a path to help that (though they're not the ONLY path). Getting a few percent of revenue from a label that actually promotes you, gets you gigs, etc., is likely a lot better than the beer money people chip in when you just sing at the local karaoke bar.

And I hate the RIAA's abusive copyright tactics as much as anyone else here, and I'll be the first to criticize labels that do bring in large revenues for their executives and staff, but pay a pittance to artists. Nevertheless, they CAN still serve a function, and thus many independent artists still DO sign on.

Re:Here's an idea

[Baloroth]

Except the RIAA doesn't do any of that. The RIAA does not do marketing, the record company itself does. RIAA doesn't sign artists, and it doesn't pay artists. Mostly, what the RIAA does is lobby the government, sue people, and desperately try to stay relevant.

Wow...

[Anonymous Coward]

Comparing YouTube to Spotify.. seriously?

How many of Spotify's users are there for music? I'm betting its close to 100%.
How many of YouTube's users are there for music?

I am going to say this just once.

[nitehawk214]

If you give money to the recording industry via bands with recording contracts. You are part of the problem.

Giving those assholes money enables them to feed their greed.

$0 is what is owed

[OrangeTide]

It's my opinion (IANAL) that YouTube owes the music industry nothing. And when you start paying the local thugs some protection money, they'll keep coming back to ask for more.

The music industry should bear the entire responsibility of chasing down individual YouTube users, and Google should wash their hands of the whole thing. I think that $1B would be better spent offering legal services to users that are under attack.

Make this like the Cold War, where each side tries to outspend the other. Music industry's global revenue is somewhere around $15B, and Google's is around $17B. If each organization were to play a very costly game of chicken, only Google would have the possibility of walking away from the wreak. In a mutually assured destruction scenario, that means Google wins because their destruction isn't assured. Once that thought experiment is out of the way, only then should negotiations between the two sides begin.

Go ahead RIAA - push Google too far

[zerofoo]

I'd love to see the day where Google says fine - we can't agree on a price therefore, we will remove all your copyrighted content from Youtube.

The best way to handle a bully is to stand up to them. The RIAA needs Google far worse than Google needs the RIAA.