YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has said in a blog post that the organisation paid the music industry more than $3bn last year.

The latest figure reveals that the Alphabet-owned company’s ad revenue goes back to music industry and creators.

YouTube revealed ad revenue numbers for the first time in its fourth quarter earlier this month, which showed YouTube ads generated $15.15bn in revenue in fiscal 2019, with $4.72bn generated in the fourth quarter alone. The segment didn’t include YouTube’s non-advertising revenue, which includes subscriptions for YouTube TV, which are included in Google’s ‘other’ revenue segment.

“YouTube offers twin engines for revenue with advertising and subscribers, paying out more than $3bn to the music industry last year from ads and subscriptions,” Wojcicki’s blog post reads. The post goes on to outline YouTube’s goal for 2020: to deepen the company’s partnership with the music industry, media companies, creators and advertisers.

While YouTube says the revenue goes back to the creators, some have questioned the specifics, and the long-term viability of the model.

Alphabet’s shares dipped nearly 5% after it missed Q4 revenue expectations earlier this month, amid ad growth deceleration.