Hypebot Readers Question YouTube, Spotify Payment Stats

YouTube announced this week that that it paid $1 billion in royalties to the music industry in the last year. Global music industry trade group, IFPI, countered that was not nearly enough, compared to Spotify payouts which were said to be 18X greater. But, as we did, Hypebot readers, are questioning the math skills of both sides.

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Eo Nomine wrote:

"So apparently IFPI's definition of "YouTube music user" is "any YouTube user who listened to music on YouTube in the last 6 months"... not quite the same as a premium Spotify user. And that's not to mention that the IFPI's survey was limited to 13 western countries..."

Serge wrote:

"Pays per play would be a more useful comparison. Divide the (claimed) $1 billion payout of Youtube by the total number of music works played on YouTube. That total number of music works must include all illicit uploads, unmonetized versions, cover versions, etc. It must also include the total number of songs involved in streaming an album, mix show, concert, etc. in YouTube, rather than treating those as a single play."

More + add your comments here: YouTube Pays Just Over $1 Per Music User Yearly vs $18 For Spotify, Says IFPI