The video for Avril Lavigne's hit 'Girlfriend' earned the singer $1million in the last 12 months, it's been revealed.

The video has clocked over 100million views from around the world since it was posted on YouTube by the singer's record label.

Lavigne's earnings come exclusively from adverts, which are served every time some one watches the video.

Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Management, argued that Lavigne's profit, which included the deduction of YouTube's own cut, showed how the music industry should embrace the internet.

"You'd see a huge shift," he told MusicTank. "We haven't even given kids the choice to show us this tipping point yet ... the profit margin in the digital space is about 300% that inside the physical space."

He argued that individual song downloads should cost users 12p and albums just £2.

(by Jason Gregory)