Music Ally Focus #19: YouTube announces it has paid out more than $4bn to the music industry in the last 12 months – is it as simple as "more money into the system is better?"

Music business news, analysed in brief by Music Ally's Stuart Dredge and Joe Sparrow. This week, YouTube announced that it has paid out more than $4bn to the music industry in the last 12 months, according to its head of music Lyor Cohen. Joe 'n' Stu ask what this means for streaming services, artists, and labels: is it as simple as "more money in is better?" And what might other streaming platforms like Spotify do in response? Oh, and here's the link to Budimir Šobat’s world record of the longest time for the breath being held voluntarily. 52 Gaj Ka Daman – a regional song that became a billion-stream YouTube mega-hit. Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-standard analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe 👋 Sign up for Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter, The Knowledge – an at-a-glance overview of the whirling, weird maelstrom that is the modern music industry: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb