Report: Music Biz Still Can't Cash-In On YouTube

After years of falling album sales and piracy woes, the global recording business notched its first significant revenue uptick in almost two decades last year, according to a new industry report set to be released on Tuesday.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s 2015 digital music report will show that revenue rose more than 3 percent, topping $15 billion, in 2015. That’s the first significant jump since 1998, when global revenue rose 4.8 percent.

While the long-awaited gain should have the industry singing an upbeat tune, the big record labels are far from happy with the state of music streaming, according to The NY Post.

Most of last year’s revenue growth came from paid subscription services, a category that includes Apple Music, and Spotify’s premium tier. That’s a business the labels would like to keep growing.

But the industry is less than pleased with the revenue artists and others collect from ad-supported services such as YouTube, where users flock to stream music and watch videos for free.


The IFPI report is expected to throw more shade on the Google-owned video platform, which is facing licensing negotiations with the big three record labels.

Last month, the Recording Industry Association of America slammed YouTube in a separate report, saying it doesn’t pay its fair share of royalties despite surging usage. That report revealed the music labels derived more revenue from vinyl than all the ad-supported YouTube consumption created in advertising revenue.