If you’re a musician, stop refreshing your Spotify Wrapped and look up, YouTube just casually announced it paid out $8 billion to the music industry between July 2024 and June 2025.
Yes, billion. With a “B.”
That’s enough to fund another Taylor Swift stadium tour and still have spare change for every artist who’s ever posted a sad acoustic cover in their bedroom.
Before you imagine Dua Lipa swimming in a pool of cash, let’s clarify: the $8 billion is split across creators, labels, publishers, and basically anyone who can legally claim a slice of the “music industry” pie.
In short, yes, musicians are getting paid, but so are the suits, the lawyers, and the one guy who insists he deserves royalties for producing a snare sound in 2014.
According to YouTube’s statement, this massive payout shows that the “twin engine of ads and subscriptions is firing on all cylinders.” What does this mean? YouTube is finally figuring out how to make both your attention span and your subscription money work for them.
And just in case anyone thought this was a one-time thing, YouTube insists this isn’t “the endpoint.” It’s just the start of their quest to become the long-term home for every artist, songwriter, and publisher on the global stage.
That’s corporate-speak for, “We’re coming for Spotify’s lunch.”
Speaking of which, let’s go to numbers.
Spotify proudly declared earlier this year that it paid out $10 billion total in 2024, while YouTube just clocked $8 billion in a single year. So basically, YouTube is now breathing down Spotify’s neck while pretending it’s all just friendly competition.
If this were a rap battle, Spotify would drop the first verse, and YouTube would immediately buy the venue, the mic, and half the audience.
YouTube says its Music and Premium subscribers now total 125 million. That’s a lot of people paying not to see ads, only to get interrupted by an ad about subscribing.
The company also credits its ad system for making all these payouts possible. Because, as you’ve probably guessed, every time you skip a pre-roll ad, YouTube still makes money. The math is simple: you watch, they cash in, and somewhere, an artist gets a few more cents toward rent.
But don’t feel too bad, YouTube claims it’s paid out over $100 billion to creators in the past four years. That’s not just musicians, that includes vloggers, makeup artists, and the guy teaching you how to fix your Wi-Fi router.
So yes, YouTube has basically become the most profitable hobby machine on the internet.
Even though YouTube now hosts everything from unboxing videos to conspiracy theories about pigeons, music still runs the platform.
The top-viewed videos of all time? Still music. The stuff that keeps people bingeing on autoplay for hours? Music. The reason you fell into a 2 a.m. rabbit hole of “live acoustic versions” you didn’t ask for? Also music.
So, it’s no surprise that YouTube is doubling down on the one thing that’s been keeping it relevant since 2005, letting artists reach fans worldwide while subtly reminding everyone else to subscribe to Premium.
If you’re an artist, this is your polite reminder that YouTube is probably paying better than you think. You don’t have to dance on TikTok or beg Spotify’s algorithm for mercy, you just need good content, some SEO skills, and the patience to upload without rage-quitting.
For everyone else, the next time you watch a music video, remember: you’re technically part of that $8 billion payout. So, congrats, you’ve indirectly funded someone’s tour bus.
