1 - How about your battery? Someone suggested try changing battery from "optimized" to "entertainment" on an S8.

2 - Have you tried booting into Safe Mode and seeing if the problem persists? 

3 - How about going to Settings -> Apps -> YouTube and clearing app data?

4 - If it does not happen in Safe Mode, someone suggested it's an app you installed causing it.. that fixed it for one person.

I have smart stay off, still pauses audio that is playing. I can restart phone and volume buttons work fine again, for like, 2-3 days.

Not sure if this last answer:

https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/398856-note-3-pausing-media-when-using-hardware-volume-button.html

is important? I don't know what Smart Stay is nor do I use Google Music.

1 - How about your battery? Someone suggested try changing battery from "optimized" to "entertainment" on an S8.

2 - Have you tried booting into Safe Mode and seeing if the problem persists? 

3 - How about going to Settings -&gt; Apps -&gt; YouTube and clearing app data?

4 - If it does not happen in Safe Mode, someone suggested it's an app you installed causing it.. that fixed it for one person.

Is there anyway to stop this from happening? 

Everytime I adjust the volume on Google Play Music and YouTube the song/video pauses.