YouTube paid out $8B to the music business in 12 months

YouTube has paid greater than $8 billion to the music business within the 12 months between July 2024 and July 2025, the corporate announced on Thursday.

“As we speak’s $8 billion payout is a testomony to the truth that the dual engine of advertisements and subscriptions is firing on all cylinders,” mentioned YouTube’s World Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, in an announcement. “This quantity just isn’t an endpoint; it represents significant, sustained progress in our journey to construct a long-term dwelling for each artist, songwriter, and writer on the worldwide stage.”

Cohen first introduced the milestone throughout a chat at Billboard Latin Music Week on Wednesday.

The milestone marks a brand new file for the platform, as YouTube’s annual music business payout elevated by $2 billion since 2022, when the corporate reported contributing $6 billion in income to the music business between July 2021 and June 2022. A 12 months earlier than that, in 2021, YouTube introduced that it had paid out $4 billion to the business in 12 months.

Thursday’s announcement comes as Spotify introduced earlier this 12 months that it paid out $10 billion to the music business in 2024. The corporate delivered $9 billion in 2023. It’s price noting that the artists themselves don’t obtain all the cash — it additionally goes to labels, publishers, songwriters, and others.

YouTube says it’s seeing momentum from its twin-engine income mannequin, noting that it has over 125 million Music and Premium subscribers globally, together with customers on trials. The corporate additionally mentioned that it has two billion logged-in viewers who watch music movies every month.

“Because the platform’s world footprint continues to broaden, so does the potential for artists and songwriters to construct long-lasting music careers and eternally followers on YouTube,” the corporate wrote in a blog post.

YouTube is offered in additional than 100 international locations and helps 80 languages.

The corporate introduced final month at its Made on YouTube occasion that it paid greater than $100 billion to creators, artists, and media firms within the final 4 years.