YouTube absolutely eclipses Spotify when it comes to the amount of music streamed. But YouTube’s payouts on those streams appear to be substantially worse, with similar problems in transparency.
We’ve seen some really sad numbers for YouTube superstars like Susan Boyle and even Rebecca Black. But when it comes to depressingly-low YouTube royalties, Dead Kennedys may take the cake. According to stats just shared by the group, YouTube paid just ‘a few hundred dollars’ on an aggregate of 14 million streams. And, the band has no idea how they arrived at that number.
Here’s what guitarist Raymond Pepperell (aka ‘East Bay Ray’) told NPR over the weekend.
“I don’t know — and no one I know knows — how YouTube calculates the money. What YouTube claims is irrelevant until they produce how much they’ve made off my band and how much they’ve shared with my band. Don’t let them bulls— you that it’s too complicated.”
In discussions with YouTube, the Dead Kennedys were told they’d receive 45 percent of ad revenue on their plays. But Pepperell says the band is yet to receive any information related to those calculations.
On a broader scale, Dead Kennedys’ earnings have dropped by more than half over the past few years alone.
“[Users] should ask YouTube and Google to pay the artists. Yes, the students are getting free music, but they should still care.”