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YouTube Paid $8 Billion to the Music Industry in 2025, Marking Its Highest Payout Since 2022
YouTube paid $8 billion to the music industry in 2025, marking its highest payout since 2022. This is a big deal for YouTube and the music world. Between July 2024 and June 2025, YouTube paid out this huge amount to musicians, songwriters, and music companies around the globe. The $8 billion is $2 billion more than what YouTube paid in 2022, showing how much the platform is growing.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, shared this news in a blog post. He said the $8 billion YouTube paid to the music industry is more than just numbers. It shows YouTube’s strong commitment to helping artists and music creators build their careers. Cohen mentioned that this growth comes from a mix of ads and subscriptions, working together to support the music industry.
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Right now, YouTube has over 125 million Music and Premium subscribers worldwide, including those trying it out for free. On top of that, more than 2 billion people watch music videos on YouTube every month while logged in. This huge audience helps artists reach fans and earn more money. So, YouTube paid $8 billion to the music industry in 2025 thanks to this mix of ads, subscriptions, and fans’ support.
This payout is actually the biggest YouTube has made so far. Back in 2021, YouTube paid $4 billion to the music world in one year. Then in 2022, that number rose to $6 billion. Now in 2025, it has jumped all the way up to $8 billion. This shows YouTube’s steady rise in giving back to artists and the music business.
YouTube is available in more than 100 countries and can be used in about 80 languages. Beyond the $8 billion paid in the last year, YouTube also announced that it paid over $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies between 2021 and 2025. That’s a huge amount of money showing how important YouTube is for the whole entertainment world.
In the world of music streaming, YouTube still competes with big players like Spotify. Spotify actually paid $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, which is more than YouTube’s $8 billion. In 2023, Spotify paid $9 billion. Both companies share the money not only with artists but also with music labels, publishers, and songwriters. Spotify also pays podcasters—giving them over $100 million worldwide in early 2025.
Spotify has been working to make its platform more user-friendly and fun for both artists and listeners. In August 2025, Spotify launched a special playlist to celebrate Afrobeats, a music genre growing fast and loved all over the world. They also introduced a new way to chat inside the app, so users can send songs, podcasts, or playlists to friends and chat with them right in Spotify.
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On the other side, YouTube is doing well growing its Music and Premium subscribers. From early 2024 to now, subscribers have gone up by 25%, taking the total to over 125 million. Lyor Cohen also talked about an upcoming trend he sees: music videos are coming back in a strong way. He said in March 2025, “It’s about sharing real, authentic music moments that fans can’t stop watching,” not just spending lots of money on production.
All this shows that YouTube paid $8 billion to the music industry in 2025 because it’s still a favorite place for people to enjoy music worldwide. Whether it’s watching music videos or listening to songs, YouTube gives fans and artists a big platform to connect. The service has been around since 2015 and has grown into one of the top music streaming services in the world.
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