🎵 YouTube Music Royalty Calculator
Estimate your streaming royalties based on play counts, territory, tier, and content type
| Territory | Premium Rate | Ad-Supported | Per 1,000 Streams | Per 1M Streams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $0.0100 | $0.0020 | $8.00 | $8,000 |
| United Kingdom | $0.0090 | $0.0018 | $7.00 | $7,000 |
| Canada | $0.0080 | $0.0016 | $6.50 | $6,500 |
| Australia | $0.0080 | $0.0015 | $6.00 | $6,000 |
| Germany | $0.0085 | $0.0017 | $6.50 | $6,500 |
| France | $0.0070 | $0.0014 | $5.50 | $5,500 |
| Sweden | $0.0065 | $0.0013 | $5.00 | $5,000 |
| Japan | $0.0060 | $0.0010 | $4.50 | $4,500 |
| Brazil | $0.0030 | $0.0006 | $2.00 | $2,000 |
| Mexico | $0.0025 | $0.0005 | $1.80 | $1,800 |
| India | $0.0015 | $0.0002 | $1.00 | $1,000 |
| Global Average | $0.0055 | $0.0011 | $4.50 | $4,500 |
| EU Average | $0.0072 | $0.0014 | $5.50 | $5,500 |
| Stream Tier | Multiplier | Typical Split | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium (Paid) | 1.0x (Base Rate) | ~40% of streams | Full subscription fee share |
| Mixed (Typical) | ~0.72x | 60% premium / 40% free | Most realistic scenario |
| Ad-Supported (Free) | ~0.20x | ~60% of streams | Lower ad revenue share |
| Content ID Claim | ~0.50x | Varies | Share of ad revenue only |
| Earnings Target | Streams (US) | Streams (Global Avg) | Streams (India) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | 125 | 222 | 1,000 |
| $10.00 | 1,250 | 2,222 | 10,000 |
| $100 | 12,500 | 22,222 | 100,000 |
| $1,000 | 125,000 | 222,222 | 1,000,000 |
| $10,000 | 1,250,000 | 2,222,222 | 10,000,000 |
| Content Type | Rate Modifier | Who Gets Paid | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Music | 100% | Artist + Songwriter | Full mechanical + performance |
| Cover Song | ~85% | Artist (performance only) | Mechanical goes to original writer |
| Content ID Claim | ~50% | Rights holder | Ad share only, no subscription |
| Background / Sync | ~80% | Sync licensor | May need separate sync license |
Find good music for YouTube videos without risk of copyright troubles is a stressful task for many. YouTube itself offers its Audio Library, where creators get to download music of good quality in 320 kbps, that does not require royalties, together with effects, all free. All items from that collection YouTube considers safe against copyright.
Only the content of the Audio Library has such promise. YouTube does not respond about problems that come from music without royalties from other YouTube channels or outside music sources.
How to find safe music for YouTube videos
The Audio Library of YouTube is not truly “without royalties” according to usual thinking. It only escapes the need to ask permission or pay for usage. Although the available range is not vast, some songs sound well, and it stays a good free option for a start.
A big gap exists between “without royalties” and “free for use”. Music without royalties is not always free. Usually one must buy a licence for it.
Some tracks that one marks as free, can still create copyright claims, because they do not truly work with platforms like YouTube. Such cases happen a bit too often. If someone uses protected music in a video without agreement, the best result is that YouTube turns off the money so no income from ads comes.
Some creators make their own music from scratch and have full rights over it. Like this one escapes all copyright claims. When a channel joins a partnership, one can turn on ads, and the creator receives everything from income.
Other resources, for instance Incompetech by Kevin MacLeod, offer many tracks without royalties. Not everything is under Creative Commons licence; some costs money, but stays without royalties. The Library of Free Music and websites with music under Creative Commons licence from independent artists also help.
One can use such tracks in personal projects, commercials and paid content, including YouTube videos and social networks.
Videos with music commonly generate royalties for the artist, whose song sounds in them. ASCAP receives regular reports from YouTube about videos, where mainstream music is found by means of the Content Identification System. ASCAP checks those data against its records and delivers matches to YouTube as claims.
YouTube then pays usage fees, and ASCAP gives them as royalties to its members. YouTube does not pay for a video view, it does that for ad views or clicks. For every 1000 views the owner of the song receives around 0.26 to 0.62 dollars, depending on the audience.
Classical music can also create troubles. Old pieces sometimes belong to the public domain, but specific versions of them commonly stay protected. It is bettre to search for versions marked as Creative Commons or without YouTube Music Royalty.
