As YouTube crosses 125 million Music and Premium subscribers, it’s becoming clear that the platform is no longer just a place for music videos, it’s a central force in music discovery, monetization, and creator-driven content. With short-form video, hybrid user roles, and evolving monetization tools, YouTube is pushing the music industry to rethink how rights are managed and how creators engage with licensed music.
In this interview, we explore the platform’s growing impact, the challenges around music licensing, and the untapped potential that could define the next era of the creator economy.
Firstly, can you give me an intro into who you are and your background/expertise?
I’m currently the Global Head of Music Partnerships at Soundstripe, based in Nashville, TN, where I focus on building innovative licensing models that serve today’s creator economy.
My journey started at Tower Records—literally. My family opened the California stores in the ’70s and ’80s, and some of my earliest memories are of running around the vinyl aisles. But I didn’t initially see a clear career path in music, so I pivoted to business and marketing during the early internet boom. I cut my teeth in startup recruiting, gaining early insight into how digital platforms scaled, and more importantly, how subscription and monetization models evolved.
That foundation became crucial when I transitioned into music tech and joined Google, where I supported YouTube Music and Google Play. Later I moved to Pandora, where I negotiated licensing deals with both major and indie labels and oversaw clearance for brand campaigns and virtual content. I continued this work at TIDAL, managing renewals with the major record labels.
Today at Soundstripe, I’m helping lead a shift in how music is licensed for video, particularly on social platforms where traditional sync doesn’t scale. I also run an all-female artist management company and serve as Head of Partnerships & Development at Women in Music, continuing to champion underrepresented creators in this space.
As we have seen YouTube has had massive growth with 125 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers. How significant is this growth for the music industry?
YouTube’s growth, 125 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers, isn’t just significant, it’s transformative. It marks a shift from passive listening to active, visual music engagement, and for the industry, it’s a signal to rethink how music is discovered, monetized, and promoted.
I see this through two overlapping lenses:
- Creators who use music to build content, and
- Artists and rightsholders who use content to build audiences.
YouTube is one of the few platforms where those two user groups are often the same person—especially among indie artists. That blurring of roles is what makes YouTube’s ecosystem so powerful.
On the artist side, YouTube now offers native tools for audience building that used to be exclusive to platforms like TikTok or Instagram: official videos, Shorts, livestreams, ads, and channel communities. But unlike other platforms, YouTube ties all of this together with its monetization infrastructure—from Content ID to Super Thanks.
On the creator side, YouTube empowers people to turn creativity into commerce. It’s not just a platform—it’s an engine for financial independence. The fact that YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over $55 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2024 underscores just how deeply embedded it’s become in the economic and cultural fabric of the creator world.
For music stakeholders, this growth means YouTube is no longer a secondary promo tool. It’s the front line of music discovery, fandom, and revenue.
Why do you think YouTube is often overlooked as a key player in music compared to Spotify or Apple Music?
The industry has historically prioritized the audio streaming economy, Spotify and Apple Music, in particular, because they offer clean, centralized data models for reporting and royalty payouts. YouTube, by contrast, sits in a hybrid lane; it’s a video-first platform with a massive audio footprint, but its monetization and rights infrastructure are more complex. Many people still think of YouTube as a place for music videos, not as a listening destination. But the reality is, it’s the world’s most-used music platform—especially in emerging markets and among Gen Z. The distinction between “audio” and “video” consumption is increasingly irrelevant, especially as short-form video dominates user behavior and discovery.
What excites you most about YouTube’s potential for labels, publishers, and songwriters right now?
YouTube Shorts. It’s not just a TikTok competitor—it’s a powerful engine for music discovery and monetization. A viral Short can drive streams to official videos, fuel catalog resurgence, and push fans into deeper engagement across the YouTube ecosystem—where monetization tools like ads, Super Chat, and merch kick in.
For labels and publishers, that means multiple revenue pathways from a single moment of attention. Plus, every use of music in Shorts feeds into Content ID, creating visibility and future monetization opportunities. Shorts isn’t just promo, it’s the spark that powers a monetizable content funnel.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions creators have about music licensing on platforms like YouTube?
One of the biggest misconceptions creators have is that music licensing on YouTube is automatic, or worse, optional. Many assume that crediting a song or using just a few seconds qualifies as “fair use.” Others think that because YouTube uses Content ID, the platform is handling everything behind the scenes.
But the reality is, using music in monetized content—especially in branded videos or paid ads—requires clearance of multiple rights. That includes the composition, the master recording, and in some cases, even approvals for name, image, or likeness if talent is recognizable. Without proper clearance, creators and their brand partners open themselves up to takedowns, demonetization, and even legal action. This is especially risky in commercial contexts where music use can imply endorsement.
Even more importantly, most creators (and even some brands) don’t realize that licensing music isn’t just a checkbox, it’s an ecosystem. Done right, it creates revenue for rightsholders and keeps the creative economy moving. But getting it right takes more than luck or algorithms. YouTube offers powerful tools, yes, but the system isn’t fully turnkey.
That’s why we’re working on solutions at Soundstripe to simplify and scale licensing for platforms like YouTube, especially where traditional sync models fall short. There’s a smarter way to bridge the gap between creators and rightsholders—and we’re excited to help lead that shift.
How does licensing on YouTube differ from other streaming or social platforms?
YouTube has a more mature rights management system than most social platforms, thanks to Content ID. It allows rightsholders to monetize user-generated content at scale. But that system was built primarily for passive monetization, not active licensing or creative reuse. For example, using music in a paid ad or branded video still requires a traditional sync license—even if Content ID exists. TikTok and Instagram, by contrast, operate on more blanket-style deals that don’t always flow revenue back to songwriters or publishers. YouTube is unique in that it blends UGC monetization, traditional sync, and performance royalties in one place—but only if all rights are properly cleared and the content is monetized appropriately.
You’ve said there’s still a lot of untapped potential on YouTube for rightsholders. Where are the biggest opportunities right now?
There’s massive untapped potential in building a scalable sync licensing model for YouTube—particularly around paid ads, influencer content, and Shorts with media spend behind them. Right now, music licensing for these use cases is stuck in old-school sync processes: clearing multiple rights manually, one video at a time. That simply doesn’t match the speed or scale of the creator economy.
The opportunity lies in operationalizing a dynamic pricing model that scales with usage or ad spend, unlocking a whole class of mid-tier sync revenue that rightsholders are currently missing.
But there’s another layer to this: creators aren’t all the same, and our licensing models shouldn’t treat them that way. A hybrid approach—where licensing terms and pricing adjust based on a creator’s audience size, level of monetization, or content reach—would help make sync more accessible to emerging creators while still preserving premium value for larger campaigns. Think of it like tiered access: frictionless licensing for everyday use, and custom options for high-impact placements.
The end goal is to make licensing as scalable and dynamic as the content it powers, and that’s the future we’re building toward.
Do you think the music industry is adapting fast enough to the creator economy? What needs to change?
Not fast enough. Most music licensing frameworks are still optimized for film and TV, not for thousands of fast-moving, micro-uses by creators and brands on digital platforms. The creator economy moves at the speed of content, but the music industry is still operating on timelines designed for bespoke syncs.
To really serve this market, the industry needs to think more like a tech platform: flexible rights models, dynamic pricing, accessible APIs, and scalable reporting systems that meet creators where they are without compromising rightsholder value.
But here’s the hard truth: many rightsholders still need to get their house in order. Too often, music rights are fragmented, contracts are outdated, or there’s uncertainty about who controls what. That complexity makes it difficult to clear music quickly or at scale, especially outside of traditional sync deals.
Until rights data is cleaner and more accessible, the opportunity to license music dynamically will remain limited. The mindset shift can’t just be about monetization at scale, it also requires operational transparency and a willingness to modernize how we manage rights. That’s where real growth lies.
How do you think the technology needs to/has evolved to ensure this untapped potential on YouTube is maximised for the music industry?
Content ID was revolutionary when it launched, but it’s time to evolve. What’s needed now is a tech layer that supports real-time sync licensing for commercial video content. That means developing rights management systems that can handle fractional ownership, variable pricing based on use case (organic vs. paid), and real-time transaction tracking. It also means giving creators and brands simple interfaces to license music in a way that respects rightsholders but doesn’t bog down the creative process. At Soundstripe, we’re exploring exactly that; How to make sync as frictionless and scalable as stock video or font licenses, especially on platforms like YouTube.
