Music Mogul Azoff Slams YouTube's "Unchecked" Power Over Royalties

In a recent industry event, veteran music executive Irving Azoff has once again taken aim at YouTube over the platform's treatment of creators and its royalty payments. Azoff, who founded the performance rights organization Global Music Rights in 2013, claims that YouTube's royalty rates are a mere fifth of its nearest competitor, despite generating five times more annual revenue.

This disparity, Azoff argues, gives YouTube "unchecked" power when negotiating with rights holders such as his own GMR, as well as other organizations like SESAC, Paramount, and NBCUniversal. Azoff alleges that YouTube will even directly contact artists and record labels, threatening to take down their music if they don't accept the platform's terms.

Azoff's criticism of YouTube is not new—he has been voicing these concerns for over a decade. In 2016, he lambasted the video streaming platform for paying creators too little and hiding behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "safe harbor" provision. At the time, Azoff warned the music industry that YouTube's poorly monetized free streams were posing a serious threat to artists.

Now, in 2025, Azoff remains steadfast in his opposition to YouTube's practices, which he believes are "rigged against the artists." With the music industry still grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Azoff's renewed calls for fairer compensation from tech giants like YouTube could have significant implications for the future of the music business.