In a letter to music partners, Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, outlined a 2026 strategy centered on visual storytelling, AI, and sustained artist development, as the platform reported paying more than $8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months ending June 2025.

The figure adds to the cumulative total YouTube reports it has paid out to creators, music companies, and media partners, which has exceeded $100 billion to date.

Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge called the payout a starting point. “This is just YouTube’s first $8 billion; there’s still a world of opportunities to unlock the next 8,” he said.

Visual Storytelling as a Growth Driver

Cohen framed music video performance as evidence of the format’s commercial resilience. He cited ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’s Grammy performance of “APT.”, which accumulated more than 2.3 billion views on YouTube, and Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, which drew more than 120 million views on the platform. 

Cohen noted that Bad Bunny holds 19 music videos with more than a billion views each, the most of any artist in history.

Research from catalog financing company Duetti supports the case for video-led engagement as a growth signal. An analysis of more than 6 million independent tracks found that artists who experienced sustained YouTube growth before other platforms were 16% more likely to develop durable audiences. The study defined durable catalogs as those experiencing less than 10% annual decline in streaming activity.

AI Strategy and Content Guardrails

Cohen addressed generative AI directly, citing YouTube CEO Neal Mohan’s position that “AI will remain a tool for expression, not a replacement.” 

Cohen said the platform is developing tools to expand storytelling capabilities for artists and songwriters, pointing to Lewis Capaldi’s reimagined “Something in the Heavens” video, created by Wonder Studios using Flow, as an example.

At the same time, Cohen said YouTube is expanding its Content ID system to add likeness detection capabilities and combat low-quality AI content on the platform.

MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson has separately identified AI tools as a factor in YouTube’s broader growth outlook, writing that the platform “will be a major beneficiary of both the structural tailwinds and headwinds facing technology and media companies.”

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