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“We welcome Google’s recognition that it and Google’s YouTube need to operate responsibly and properly value creators and their work. However, the figures in Google’s anti-piracy paper don’t match our own.

“It is difficult to get any clarity on Google’s claims as it doesn’t explain its methodology, but IFPI data shows that revenue returning to the record industry through video streaming services (including but not limited to YouTube) with 1.3 billion users amounted to US $856 million in 2017 – less than half of Google’s claim and less than US $1 per user per year.

“By contrast, a much smaller user base of 272 million users of audio subscription services (both paid and ad-supported), which don’t misapply the ‘safe harbour’, compensated creators some US $5.6 billion – a little more than US$20 per user per year.

“This is the reality of the ‘value gap’ – in which user-upload platforms, such as YouTube, exploit music for profit without returning fair compensation to music creators.”

Source: IFPI, 2018

For further information please contact:
press@ifpi.org / +44 (0) 20 7878 7979