Helping music artists make the most of YouTube

5 mins to read

Helping music artists make the most of YouTube

Remember your first guitar lesson? Or your 1,000th subscriber on YouTube? What about when you learned YouTube Analytics to understand what your fans watch the most?

Making great music is just like making great YouTube videos. It requires creativity, passion and the right resources, and that’s why we’re helping artists like you make the most of YouTube with the launch of YouTube for Artists. This initiative will give you two things: the tools to best connect with fans, and promotional programs to help you get discovered and grow.

YouTube for Artists…like you

On a new YouTube for Artists site, you have a variety of powerful resources, everything you need to take your latest slow jam or dance track to the next level. Here you’ll find tips on how to best get discovered, lessons on engaging with your fans beyond your music videos, a guide to making money on YouTube, and more.

You can also learn about how you can sell merch and promote your shows directly within your video through cards, and have fans directly contribute money to your channel through Fan Funding. These features give you even more ways to grow both your audience and your revenue on YouTube.

Success on YouTube leads to greater overall success as an artist, and on YouTube for Artists you can learn about all the current programs we have to make that happen. That includes getting your YouTube views to lead to charting on Billboard, airtime on SiriusXM and NRJ in France, and free production resources at our YouTube Space locations around the world.

We’re also working on a new data tool for artists that will show you where your fans are located at the city level, as well as show the total number of views from your official music videos and fan uploads through Content ID. This will help you figure out where to promote your next single to your fans, the best time zone to release your next video or where you might route your next tour. And if you’re at SXSW Music this week, we’ll be hosting YouTube at Coppertank to show a preview of this data tool, as well as having live performances from emerging artists and trailblazing artists on YouTube.

Making center stage big enough for everyone

We want to do more than just give you tools to succeed—we want to help more and more fans discover your channel and videos. So we’re working on new ways to celebrate and promote the wide range of artists on YouTube.

We’re starting with the YouTube Music Awards, where we’re putting a spotlight on the artists who are growing the fastest, engaging with their audience the most, and helping define what music means on YouTube. You can learn more about this year’s top 50 artists at the YouTube Music Awards channel, and stay tuned on March 23 @ 10 a.m. PT for special music video performances from some of this year’s winners and other emerging artists. And if you’re a YouTube Music Award winner—congratulations!

The YTMAs are just the beginning, as we’re working on even more ways to help you make the most of YouTube.