Bootleg uploads get copyright striked, so the money goes to the rights-holders either way. This is how YT has avoided a major lawsuit until now, but the major labels are still pissed off with them because if they earned as much money per-user as they do from Spotify premium, they would be raking in billions. As a result, labels have been forcing YT to take down certain artists catalogues and piddle with its copyright bots to make them as unfair as possible. YT made YT Music as a way of placating the labels, but it might still not be enough in the long run. If it's not, YT would have to buy a license for every single song on the platform... Which they're not going to do, because it would probably bankrupt Google. The only logical step in that scenario would be to remove music from YT altogether.
Bootleg uploads get copyright striked, so the money goes to the rights-holders either way. This is how YT has avoided a major lawsuit until now, but the major labels are still pissed off with them because if they earned as much money per-user as they do from Spotify premium, they would be raking in billions. As a result, labels have been forcing YT to take down certain artists catalogues and piddle with its copyright bots to make them as unfair as possible. YT made YT Music as a way of placating the labels, but it might still not be enough in the long run. If it's not, YT would have to buy a license for every single song on the platform... Which they're not going to do, because it would probably bankrupt Google. The only logical step in that scenario would be to remove music from YT altogether.