Irving Azoff Lambasts ‘Bully’ YouTube Over Billboard Pullout

Photo Credit: Luke Harold / CC by 1.0

Irving Azoff is once again lambasting YouTube – this time over the Google subsidiary’s much-publicized Billboard charts pullout. Meanwhile, the firmly worded criticism has arrived amid substantial subscriber growth for YouTube Music.

The music mogul just recently took aim at YouTube, and specifically its well-documented exit from Billboard’s charts. As many are aware, Azoff has been calling out elements of the platform’s business model for a while now.

Chief among those elements: A comparatively low per-stream royalty rate, which, having long been a subject of controversy and discussion, prompted a renewed attack from Azoff five months ago.

Not letting up, Azoff then excoriated the video-sharing giant for the same reason – “YouTube pays the least for music, full stop” – in a November 2025 Billboard guest column. Evidently, the overarching push to “stand up” to YouTube resonated; the platform has exited the charts altogether, and apparently, the time is therefore right for a fresh wave of criticism.

“When you least expect it, expect it!” Azoff began his open letter. “That’s what I love about our business: someone always surprises you. I have been waiting to see who’s willing to stand up to the bully that is YouTube, and kudos to Billboard for doing just that.”

Of course, charting split aside, music continues to play a significant role on YouTube proper as well as YouTube Music; the dispute hasn’t (and, in the near term, presumably won’t) devolve into a full-fledged licensing showdown. Following that idea to its logical conclusion, what about the timetable associated with a possible reconciliation?

“I applaud Billboard for being willing to stand up!” Azoff spelled out on this front. “YouTube pays music creators – artists and songwriters – less than any other comparable digital service and should not have influence over the Billboard charts.

“When YouTube starts paying artists and songwriters on par with other music services, then its streams can be counted the same as Apple, Spotify, etc. Until then, we should all be happy to let YouTube take its toys and go home,” the Oak View Group co-founder proceeded.

Though this looks to be the prevailing sentiment in the industry, the reality, as mentioned, is that music remains prevalent on YouTube and Music/Premium is picking up steam. Beyond straight tracks (and music videos), said prevalence refers to a growing stable of AI features.

At the intersection of both points, YouTube Music is closing the stateside subscriber gap with market-leader rivals Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Admittedly – and as explored in detail by DMN Pro – YouTube Music still has a lot of ground to cover before catching up to even the Amazon-owned DSP in US subs.

But its nearly 40% year-over-year subscriber-base expansion through December 2025, likewise analyzed in Pro’s latest weekly report, is noteworthy on multiple levels.

One of these levels: If the trend holds steady and YouTube Music then adds some AI-fueled revenue streams, will the charts showdown be put to rest? More generally, with Spotify and others champing at the bit to kick AI derivatives into high gear, how will authorized soundalike outputs affect the streaming consumption (and chart rankings) of commercially prominent acts’ actual catalogs?

We’ll have to wait for answers to the pressing questions. Also worth considering when it comes to YouTube Music’s ascent is that Spotify’s bundling craze badly delayed the addition of music videos. Although a major draw on YouTube, they only made their way onto Spotify US this past December.