YouTube Music Curators Media Assets or Next-Gen Labels?

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The 20,000 Foot View:  The rise of the YouTube channel curator was one of the defining stories in music throughout the 2010s, and yet in the era of global success stories such as Kondzilla and T-Series, their place in the music ecosystem is still being defined. YouTube points both towards the potential future of the label and essentially a new kind of visual media property. This report explores the economics of music on YouTube and what makes rising streaming markets such as Brazil especially favourable for these types of channels. In the context of artist marketing and rights management, a key question emerges: in a pure streaming economy without the legacy of physical and traditional copyright frameworks, are YouTube channel curators positioned to be the most successful music business models? 

Key Insights

• YouTube curator channels in fast-growing streaming markets benefitted from latent demand and limited competition 
• Latin America represents        of Spotify’s user base but        of YouTube’s music base
• An average of        of        year olds watch music videos on YouTube compared to an average        of consumers aged        and above
• Between November 2017 and 2018, YouTube paid out        billion in advertising revenue to the recorded music industry
• The present performing rights organisation (PRO) and collective management organisation (CMO) framework takes more revenue from labels than YouTube channels
• YouTube is more amenable to music channels that favour its business model such as YouTube creators and curators, which has boosted its growth more than traditional music video channels

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon Prime Music, Amuse, Apple Music, Beggars, Boiler Room, BuzzFeed, Deezer, Google, Google Play Music,        Kondzilla, Napster, Patreon, SBTV, Spotify, Trap Nation, T-Series, Universal Music Publishing Group, YouTube, YouTube Music