No. 30: Robert Kyncl & Lyor Cohen | Power 100

2/9/2017 by Billboard Staff

30

ROBERT KYNCL, 46

Chief business officer, YouTube

Last Year's Rank: 37

 

LYOR COHEN, 57

Global head of music partnerships, YouTube

Last Year's Rank: 81

The video streaming titan, home to more than a billion users, says it paid out over $1 billion to the music industry solely from advertising within the past year. In September 2016, YouTube hired Cohen, co-founder of 300 Entertainment and former Def Jam and Warner Music head, to improve its relationship with the music business, which has criticized YouTube's compensation to rights-holders. Cohen aims to "demystify YouTube and make it easier for artists, labels, songwriters and publishers to understand." Adds Kyncl: "By the end of the year, we would like to meaningfully grow user engagement with our partners' content, resulting in more revenue going to artists, labels and publishers."

2017 Power 100