What Do Royalties From YouTube Amount To?

Peter Waterman, songwriter of Rick Astley's hit "Never Gonna Give You Up," is not happy with Google's royalty payments and compared his royalties from YouTube to the "exploitation" suffered by foreign workers in Dubai according to a piece in the Telegraph. The Astley video has been viewed 154 million times on YouTube, according to the article, and Waterman says he has received £11 ($16.30) from Google. There are several posting of the video on YouTube, including Pop Up Video versions. The views ranged from 1.5 million to 16.3 million views. I'm assuming these are global views and not just US. If so, the 154 million claim seems rather high.

The PRS For Music organization based in the UK, wants Google/YouTube to pay higher royalties to songwriters for use of their work online and Waterman's comments were part of a press conference for the PRS for Music group, which is demanding higher payments to content creators.