Apparently, [the co-writer of “Never Gonna Give You Up” has made a total of about 16 dollars from YouTube views of the song’s video][link]. The article doesn’t say how much he’s made from other revenue streams. I find it impossible to believe that the Rickroll meme didn’t make him plenty of money from things like increased radio play, sales on iTunes, and so forth.
[link]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5130427/Pete-Waterman-I-was-exploited-by-Google.html “Pete Waterman: ‘I was exploited by Google’ – Telegraph”