YouTube will stop giving Billboard its music streaming data

YouTube will no longer share its music data with Billboard, citing objections to how the publication weights streams when calculating its U.S. music charts. Set to go into effect next month, the change means Billboard's charts won't be able to take YouTube's music streaming data into account at all.

In a post to its official blog on Tuesday, YouTube criticized Billboard's policy of giving subscription-supported and paid streams more weight than ad-supported streams when determining its charts. The video streaming platform claimed that despite "extensive discussions," Billboard was "unwilling to make meaningful changes" to its stance. Billboard has included YouTube's data in its chart calculations since 2013, and began giving paid and subscription streams more weight than ad-supported ones in 2018.

"Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported," claimed Lyor Cohen, YouTube's global head of music. "This doesn't reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription."

This news comes just one day after Billboard announced changes to how it considers different types of streams, aligning more closely with YouTube's preferences. Still, the update didn't go far enough to appease its partner of over a decade.

Billboard currently calculates its charts using "album consumption units." One unit is the equivalent of either one album sale, the sale of 10 individual tracks from an album, or a set number of on-demand streams of its songs. However, Billboard weights streams differently depending upon whether listeners have paid for them. It currently takes 1,250 streams via paid or subscription services to equate to one album consumption unit, while 3,750 are required for ad-supported streams. 

These calculations will change from Jan. 17 next month. While paid or subscription streams will still be given more weight than ad-supported ones, Billboard is reducing the ratio from 1:3 to 1:2.5. As such, one album consumption unit will only require 1000 paid or subscription streams or 2500 ad-supported streams. That's a respective 20 percent and 33.3 percent reduction on the number of streams required.

Even so, Billboard's changes apparently weren't enough to satisfy YouTube, which would much prefer all streams to be weighted equally. YouTube will stop providing its music data to Billboard after Jan. 16, one day before Billboard's changes come into effect.

"Streaming is the primary way people experience music, making up 84% of U.S. recorded music revenue," wrote Cohen. "We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported — because every fan matters and every play should count."

For its part, Billboard is standing by its new chart calculations.

"Billboard strives to measure [music fans'] activity appropriately; balanced by various factors including consumer access, revenue analysis, data validation, and industry guidance," a Billboard spokesperson said in a statement. "It is our hope that YouTube reconsiders and joins Billboard in recognizing the reach and popularity of artists on all music platforms and in celebrating their achievements though [sic] the power of fans and how they interact with the music that they love."