Photo Credit: BoliviaInteligente
Legendary music mogul Irving Azoff had some scathing remarks for YouTube, calling the company a ‘bully’ that isn’t paying artists their fair share.
Artists have long lamented the lack of royalties paid for the value of their work across the music streaming industry. But it’s rare for such a towering figure as Irving Azoff, Chairman and CEO of The Azoff Company, to weigh in—and even more so to remark upon a specific company. During a keynote session on Tuesday at TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 conference, the industry mogul called YouTube a “bully,” and doubled down on his previous assertion that they aren’t paying artists “their fair share.”
“I’m fiercely protective of artists, and YouTube is by far the worst offender,” said Azoff at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles to moderator and TheWrap founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman. “I’m really not fond when companies take advantage of creators. But YouTube has, in my opinion, invented new words for the way to bully people.”
Specifically, Azoff accused the company of underpaying artists even when compared to its closest competitors (namely Spotify and Apple Music). He also remarked on the company threatening to remove artist channels when it receives pushback during negotiations.
“When you get down to the end on a negotiation with them, they call your artists, they call the record company, they go take your music down,” said Azoff. “Obviously, their market power is unchecked at this point.”
Though rare, this actually isn’t the first time Azoff has criticized YouTube—and it isn’t even the first time he’s done so at TheWrap’s annual event. Almost a decade ago, Azoff called YouTube “evil” while on stage, asserting the company’s “lack of respect for intellectual property.”
“Well, things never changed,” he said on Tuesday after watching footage of himself speaking on the subject previously.
Azoff’s latest remarks come at an interesting time, amid increasing scrutiny surrounding YouTube parent Google’s power. That includes the U.S. Justice Department seeking a court decision for the company to end certain exclusivity deals and to share its search data with third parties. The Department of Justice had even sought to break up the company.
And even Azoff says it isn’t just a music industry issue, pointing to YouTube’s carriage dispute with NBCUniversal as another example of the company “throwing its weight around.” He also pointed to several other (unnamed) examples in the television industry, including late-night hosts, who are frustrated with YouTube and its contribution to “declining linear TV ratings.”
“It’s incredible that YouTube doesn’t pay their fair share, so therefore the parent company is losing money on your show,” Azoff said, referencing the economics of late-night television. “If they paid their fair share, the economics on these shows would look really different.”
Specifically, Azoff pointed out the massive viewership that late-night shows from hosts including Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert get on YouTube. But the ad revenue made from shows posting clips or even entire episodes on YouTube is chump change compared to the advertising dollars made from cable and broadcast.
Therefore, even if a series like “The Tonight Show” has millions of YouTube followers and videos with high view counts, the amount of money it’s making is significantly lower than if its total viewership came from traditional television.
In 2024, Azoff said YouTube alone made $50 billion in revenue, while the estimated revenue for their nearest competitor during the same period was $10 billion. Yet at the same time, Azoff said the competitor paid its creators five times what YouTube paid.
Since YouTube parent Alphabet doesn’t typically break down its YouTube subscription revenue in its earnings, it’s likely that Azoff is referring to the numbers reported during the company’s third quarter earnings for 2024. During that call, the company reported that YouTube’s total ad revenue, including subscriptions, surpassed $50 billion for the first time.
One of YouTube’s top rivals, Spotify, reported around $18.4 billion in total revenue in 2024. Spotify also reported that it paid $10 billion to the music industry during that time.
While it’s difficult to confirm all the numbers at play, this is largely due to a lack of transparency relating to YouTube’s vast content empire.
“I’m more hopeful that something gets done, because it’s not just the music industry that they’re bullying, […] it’s everybody,” explained Azoff. “I can’t believe that everybody versus them isn’t going to make a difference.”
