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

YouTube has paid more than $8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months between July 2024 and July 2025, the company announced on Thursday.

“Today’s $8 billion payout is a testament to the fact that the twin engine of ads and subscriptions is firing on all cylinders,” said YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, in a statement. “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.”

Cohen first announced the milestone during a talk at Billboard Latin Music Week on Wednesday.

The milestone marks a new record for the platform, as YouTube’s annual music industry payout increased by $2 billion since 2022, when the company reported contributing $6 billion in revenue to the music industry between July 2021 and June 2022. A year before that, in 2021, YouTube announced that it had paid out $4 billion to the industry in 12 months.

Thursday’s announcement comes as Spotify announced earlier this year that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024. The company delivered $9 billion in 2023. It’s worth noting that the artists themselves don’t receive all the money — it also goes to labels, publishers, songwriters, and others.

YouTube says it’s seeing momentum from its twin-engine revenue model, noting that it has over 125 million Music and Premium subscribers globally, including users on trials. The company also said that it has two billion logged-in viewers who watch music videos each month.

“As the platform’s global footprint continues to expand, so does the potential for artists and songwriters to build long-lasting music careers and forever fans on YouTube,” the company wrote in a blog post.

YouTube is available in more than 100 countries and supports 80 languages.

The company announced last month at its Made on YouTube event that it paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies in the last four years.