Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Music Head, Faces Down A Doubtful Music Business
Fear is not an emotion typically attributed to Lyor Cohen. This is the former music industry exec, after all, whose imposing swag and steely visage made him as formidable a figure as the major rap stars whose careers he helped launch and lord over (from Run-DMC to Young Thug) during hip-hop's 40-year rise to the top of the charts. So when Cohen copped to a fear of public speaking during one of two recent conversations we had in the weeks preceding the long-awaited launch of YouTube's newly announced streaming subscription services, YouTube Music and YouTube Music Premium, it seemed like an unlikely admission from a person known for crushing competition at all costs.
"I tackled a lifelong fear of mine. I dragged it to the ground and I stomped on it," Cohen said, in near glee this March, recounting the SXSW keynote address he had just given to a ballroom of hundreds in Austin. "I said to myself: 'I'm on the back half of my life, and I'm going to tackle every one of my fears.' " In his speech, he positioned his many career pivots (from road manager to leading Def Jam to head of Warner Music Group) as a sales pitch for the music industry to embrace change.
Lately, Cohen's been inducing fear into the traditional music industry he defected from two years ago to become YouTube's global head of music. Brought that allows YouTube to capitalize on artists' content while offering some of the industry's lowest royalty payments.
