YouTube’s unlikely peacemaker has a plan to make musicians rich

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed YouTube icon is seen in front of a displayed YouTube logo in this illustration taken October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Ilustration/File Photo

The music executives hobnobbing with Ed Sheeran and Selena Gomez at an industry party one recent November night knew the enemy was in their midst. Susan Wojcicki runs YouTube, the site that’s let millions of fans listen to their favourite songs without paying a dime. 

But Wojcicki, a 49-year-old Silicon Valley insider, was at the soiree to extend an olive branch. Escorting her around the room and introducing her to Mary J. Blige and Camila Cabello was her guide, the man YouTube has entrusted with mending its ties to record labels and artists: veteran label executive and manager Lyor Cohen.