YouTube Music royalty calculator: How much does YouTube Music pay you?
Enter your monthly YouTube Music streams to see what they pay, and how the same plays would pay on other apps.
YouTube Music pays about $3 for every 1,000 streams, so 10,000 streams earn about $30 and 1 million streams about $3,000. Videos that use your song on YouTube earn separately, through Content ID.
Estimated YouTube Music earnings per month
$30.00$360.00 per year
Blended average rates based on the Duetti Music Economics Report and 2026 industry payout studies. No platform publishes fixed per-stream prices — actual payouts vary by listener country, subscription tier, and monthly revenue pools. Updated July 2026.
YouTube Music streams to money
| Streams | YouTube Music pays about |
|---|---|
| 1,000 | $3 |
| 10,000 | $30 |
| 100,000 | $300 |
| 1,000,000 | $3,000 |
Keep up to 100% of these royalties with LUCY
How YouTube Music pays artists
YouTube Music shares the money from subscriptions and ads with rights holders by their share of plays. A play by a Premium subscriber pays more than one paid for by ads, so your rate depends on who is listening.
YouTube Music's average rate is lower than Spotify's or Apple Music's, but YouTube reaches more listeners than any other app, and the same songs can earn again whenever someone uses them in a video.
Earn from videos that use your song
YouTube Content ID matches uploaded videos against your recordings. When a video uses your song, ads run on it and you get a share. That money is separate from YouTube Music streams and is often bigger for songs people use in their own videos.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does YouTube Music pay per stream?
- There is no fixed rate. This calculator uses a blended $0.003 per stream, or $3 per 1,000 streams. Plays from YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers pay more than plays paid for by ads.
- Is YouTube Music the same as YouTube videos?
- No. YouTube Music streams of your release pay like any streaming app. When other people use your song in their own videos, the money comes through YouTube Content ID instead, from the ads on those videos. LUCY can set up both.
- How does my music get on YouTube Music?
- When you release through a distributor such as LUCY, your songs appear on YouTube Music and as Art Tracks on an automatic Topic channel for you on YouTube. You do not need to upload anything yourself.
- How long until I get paid for YouTube Music streams?
- YouTube reports streams to your distributor about two months after they happen. With LUCY the money appears in your Wallet next to your Spotify and Apple Music money, and on Pro and Label you keep 100% of it.
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