Lyor Cohen On His Mission At YouTube

Lyor Cohen (Aisia Williams/Shutterstock)

LYOR COHEN joined GOOGLE's YOUTUBE as Head Of Global Music almost a year ago (NET NEWS, 9/28/16) because, in his own words, "I saw a great opportunity to bring tech and music together and do right by artists, the industry and fans.  I’m more optimistic than ever that YOUTUBE can do that, but the truth is there’s still a disconnect between YOUTUBE and the rest of the industry."

In an attempt to rectify that "disconnect," COHEN offers five factors "to explain the current situation."

1. LATE TO THE PARTY. YOUTUBE only recently adopted a paid subscription model. Says COHEN, "The team is serious about subscriptions. And now with YOUTUBE MUSIC and GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC merging, I’m confident they will build an even better subscription service."

2. TWIN-ENGINE GROWTH: COHEN is bullish on the possiblity of subscription revenue
increasing. "It's already reaping billions for the music industry," he insists, but also is positive on ad-supported streaming as well as a second revenue-generating engine. "YOUTUBE’s ads hustle has already brought over a billion dollars in 12 months to the industry and it’s growing rapidly.".

3. LET'S TALK ABOUT DEAD PRESIDENTS. LYOR supports industry-wide "transparency": "We (the labels, publishers and YOUTUBE) must shine a light on artist royalties, show them how much they make from ads compared to subscriptions by geography and see how high their revenue is in the U.S. and compared to other services." He says, "at over $3 per thousand streams in the U.S., YOUTUBE is paying out more than other ad supported services."

4. FORTUNE AND FAME: LYOR touts YOUTUBE's potential to break new artists. "YOUTUBE needs to find new ways to promote and break artists and their albums so they have a chance to shine on the platform and connect with their fans."

5. WITHOUT SAFE HARBOR, WE'D ALL BE LOST AT SEA: LYOR stands strongly for artists' rights but insists, "I’m not parroting the company line when I say the focus on copyright safe harbors is a distraction. Safe harbor helps open platforms like YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK, SOUNDCLOUD and INSTAGRAM give a voice to millions of artists around the world, making the industry more competitive and vibrant."  He also claims, as of 2016, 99.5% of music claims on YOUTUBE are matched automatically by CONTENT ID and are either removed or monetized.

For his complete remarks, go here.

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