According to recent DMN Pro data, 73% of YouTube Music subscribers access the platform through bundled plans for royalty calculations. This represents approximately 5.05 million accounts in the United States as of February 2024.

These bundled plans include:

• YouTube Premium Individual
• YouTube Premium Family
• YouTube Premium Student

The high adoption of bundled plans can be attributed to YouTube's strong market position, with 83% of American adults using the main YouTube platform. The $3 price difference between YouTube Music Individual ($10.99) and YouTube Premium Individual ($13.99) makes the bundle particularly attractive to consumers.

This trend extends beyond YouTube Music. Major streaming platforms increasingly rely on bundled offerings:

• Spotify: ~98% of U.S. subscriptions are bundles (including audiobook offerings)
• Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music collectively dominate U.S. music streaming subscriptions
• All major platforms utilize multi-product packages to varying degrees

The widespread use of bundling has significant implications for royalty payments. The mechanical royalty calculations differ between bundled and standalone offerings, potentially resulting in lower payments to publishers. This has become a central issue for upcoming Phonorecords V negotiations, with the NMPA expressing concerns about potential revenue losses in the hundreds of millions.

Given the competitive nature of the streaming market and the success of bundled offerings, this business model is likely to persist, though the royalty calculation methods may face significant changes in future negotiations.

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