Lyor Cohen says YouTube Music gives consumers a choice between subscription and “paying with their eyeballs”

Former label head and current YouTube executive Lyor Cohen is this week’s guest on Recode Media’s podcast series.

Hosted by Recode senior editor Peter Kafka, Cohen sat in for a 45-minute chat about the current state of YouTube, Childish Gambino‘s new ‘This Is America’ video, and the new YouTube Music streaming service.

He spoke about the idea behind the creation of YouTube Music, the new subscription service that launches today, explaining that it was about giving consumers a choice between “a subscription, or paying with their eyeballs.”

Chatting about the new Gambino video, Cohen kept turning the interview around on Kafka and kept asking him questions about it, and the way that it has created conversations worldwide.

“Would you suggest that people are starved for things that make them think? Maybe they are on autopilot and getting into the seduction of lazy media consumption,” says Cohen.

The chat also touches on a photo of Kanye West that Cohen appeared in a few weeks ago, and the role of music labels in 2018.

Listen to the podcast in full below: