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

[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.