YouTube Now Accepts Tips for Musicians
Artists and rights holders do make money from YouTube, of course. There’s a standard YouTube license that allows the service to carry the music which funnels a portion of the proceeds from all those annoying ads (the pre-roll videos and the stuff that clutters up the lower third of the screen) to the people who deserve to get. Psy, for example, made many millions from just YouTube plays of “Gangnam Style.”
But like I said, those ads can be annoying even if they are very necessary to the financial ecosystem. However, that could change with the advent of a new “tip jar” approach that YouTube has rolled out in the US, Mexico, Australia and Japan.
Like a band and want to support them with a little extra sumthing-sumthing? Then click on the icon and transfer some money from your Google wallet. Think of it as the virtual version of tossing some coin in that busker’s guitar case. RAIN has the whole story here.
Or… after doing everything in their power to pay artists as little as possible, they throw them a bone and let them beg.
https://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/every-indie-label-world-now-pissed-youtube/