YouTube, with its 20 million premium subscribers, generated $15.15 billion in ad revenue last year.
This, according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki‘s latest blog post. Her quarterly update not only discusses company principles and highlights from the past few months, but a brief rundown of the overall journey and how it relates to the music industry.
YouTube started up on February 14, 2005 — and years later it’s a massive money maker with the power to break new artists. Everyday, we see the way musicians interact with the platform, including documentary-driven content from Martin Garrix (The Martin Garrix Show), Justin Bieber (Justin Bieber: Seasons) and more. 
As it concerns the music industry, “YouTube offers twin engines for revenue with advertising and subscribers, paying out more than $3 billion to the music industry last year from ads and subscriptions,” Wojcicki said.
Wojcicki also stated, “…from its early days, YouTube has been a home for artists who found creative ways to use the platform to help expand their reach.”
Sources: YouTube Official Blog, Pulse 2.0
