When you’re building your online presence and promoting your band or music you dont want want to miss opportunies. You want to make sure that you build out every potential income stream. Eventually you’ll start getting attention. When it does you’ll want to be sure that you are not leaving money on the table. That will include being sure that you earn on YouTube with your music.
As artists its easy to think of Spotify, Apple Streaming, Pandora and some of the other streamers. These are some of the popular places to release your music for streamin . But if you stopped there you’d be missing out streaming on YouTube. Yes, if you didn’t know you can stream more than videos on Youtube.
For more about the Pros and Cons of using Spotify, we have a great article. Check it out!
YouTube has a reasonably good reputation for treating their creators well. A lot of artist use YouTube as promotional tool for their music. On Youtube the can easily showcase their behind the scenes effort to make and promote their music. Fans can follow along with everything that goes into being an artist. That includes all of the hard work and all of the fun.
Wanderlust
People in traditional jobs may feel a sense of wanderlust when watching behind-the-scenes footage of musical artists on YouTube. It may be because it induces a sense of longing for a different, more adventurous lifestyle. Who knows, maybe they just love you. But whatever the reason Youtube is a great way to introduce what you are doing to others. Eventually having that YouTube account and viewership will become a source of revenue in and of itself.
So setting up your YouTube channel and keeping it up to date and current is probably a no brainer. Additionally YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. It makes more than a lot of sense for you to have your music posted. So its a great idea to get your channel up and keep it posted with regularly scheduled content.
So Let’s Get That Money.
Let’s start with the basics. Those basics include working on building your viewership. First you’ll need to drive traffic to your channel. Then you’ll need to stay consistent with your release schedule. If you discover something that your audience responds well to it may be “your thing”.
To be consistent with your release schedule you’ll need to up your video making regimen. That means you’ll need to start making music videos on the regular. We have a great guide that goes into making music videos for your music. Here is the link!
But like we said its more than just music videos. It’s the behind the scenes follow along goodness that helps new fans connect.
After you are content creation and uploading schedule in order, its time to level up. Now you can begin to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. That means a lot of things, but for now we’ll lean into two; consistency and quality. Consistency is also very important because the viewers will connect with the regular routine of your uploads.
As far as quality goes, you’ll improve as you go. So the best advice is to embrace self assessment and improvement. It is important to present the very best content you are currently able to produce. Then, you should continually do your best to increase that quality.
At the beginning you may not have the budget for the latest greatest gadgets. It is perfectly reasonable for you to use whatever equipment you have. Good practice would be to use whatever equipment you do have well. That will be good enough starting point for you to earn on YouTube with music.
Joining the Partner Program
There are guidlines to be eligible for YouTube’s Partner Program. You must agree and be in compliant with YouTube’s Monetization Policies. By joining, it allows for the user to share in the ad revenue that is earned on that user’s channel.
In order to qualify to participate in the program a user must:
1. Get 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or
2. Get 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
-excerpt from Youtube support
Once you have met all of those criteria you will be free to collect. That means you’ll be entitled to a share of the earnings for the viewers you draw that watch YouTube’s add. It is another great opportunity to earn on YouTube with your music and promotional content. So keep producing content for your channel eventually it will pay.
Channel Memberships
An artist can create a channel membership. With a membership fans can subscribe to a monthly payment in exchange for additional and exclusive content. You can also set up something like that on your own website as well. Essentially it is sort of a subscription fan club, with pay walls to exclusive content. For more about setting up your Website to earn; Read here!
YouTube Music
Artists who have released music on Digital Streaming Services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Or Pandora will have done so using a digital distribution service like Tunecore or Distrokid. These distribution services distribute and release an artists music across all streaming services including YouTube Music automatically. When subscribers to YouTube Premium and the YouTube Music App hear your music stream you will earn a small fee from each each of those streams.
Before posting music anywhere; We have written a great guide for your reference. It deals with everything that you should prepare before posting music. Have a read!
YouTube Content Id
Any new content that is put on YouTube is scanned for music and copyright. As an artist when you release new music through your distribution company, your music is tagged with digital identifiers. Every new piece of content put up on YouTube is scanned across the data base of all song Ids in order to identify ownership. If a video is posted up with your song as the soundtrack. Youtube will identify that it is your music. Then they will affix an add to that content in order to earn revenue and pay you for your contribution. This will ensure that you earn on YouTube with your music even if you didn’t post it.
When an artists has built a wide audience and the song becomes popular or goes viral other creators may want to use it as part of a soundtrack to one of their own videos. This can be an excellent way for you the artist to exponentially grow your income streams. The wider your reach becomes, and the more people whom use your music on their own videos, the more income you stand to earn. Every penny counts, and that includes even every fraction of a penny.
YouTube For Artists
Any artist that has signed up with a distribution company that then signs up for a YouTube Channel will be qualified for an artist channel. Having an artist channel provides one with a number of tools that are not available to content creators otherwise.
There are a number of small requirements to setting up your artist page. Once you have met them you will be able to access to these tools.
These tools include:
- The ability to select your feature video
- Album streaming
- The ability to post and interact with your following on community boards
In addition to these features you also have a platform that allows for a more professional presentation than what would be available otherwise.
Selling Your Merchandise
After you have established that you have met the criteria for selling your merchandise through YouTube you will be able able to link your online store to your YouTube account. Once this connection is established you sell your products in your channel’s store. There is also a tool that allows you to promote your merchandise in your videos end screens. Additionally there is an overlay or product shelf that you can enable below any video or live stream. So not only will you be able to earn on YouTube with music, you will also be able to earn from merchandising.
Share And Teach Some Of Your Musical Skills
If you run out of content ideas for your vlog and you are looking for some new inspiration, why not start a series where you teach your audience a little bit about how to create some music for themselves. If you build it up over time, eventually you may be able to offer an exclusive pay to view teaching program that delves into the the process of making music deeper than what you already might freely share on your channel.
In addition to having a program for your audience to subscribe to. You may also think about having private tutorials available to people who want to connect with and learn from you directly. Assess your value per hour and put the option out there for your followers to book lessons with you through your channel. Don’t set your price too low, but at the same time make sure your ask is reasonable. You can test the price with the audience and adjust however the best potential dictates.
Creating Playlists
After you have everything up and running smoothly there are a few more things you can do to optimize your chances. One of those is creating playlists. What creating playlists does for you is simple. It increases the number of videos your viewers may watch buy linking a few of them together in series.
That way once they start on one of your videos they may decide to watch through the sequential line up of successive installments on whatever the particular topic that series covered. After you get a routine going regarding your upload strategy you can e ven plan and conceptualize how you may be able to group videos in such a way in advance.
Once you start doing this regularly you’ll eventually have built a number of these series covering any number of topics or events that you are documenting. The link you create from one video to the next can help to improve the chances of keeping a viewer watching and that ultimately presents you with an increased chance that they view additional ads on your channel, thusly earning you extra revenue.
How About Playing Live Music Or Group Chat With YouTube LiveStream
If you feel like playing a concert online or having a live question and answer event then again YouTube has the infrastructure and systems you’ll need to pull that off. In addition to the technical wizardry that they provide in order to help you facilitate a seamless event. YouTube’s Live stream also includes features which allow you to easily be able to monetize your event.
There are at least two ways for you to engage your viewers in financial support of your live stream effort. One is running adds throughout your event. As the host you have the control as to when an add airs and you can have them run periodically throughout your event. This is an indirect monetization as you are not asking your audience to contribute directly.
Monetize livestream
The other way you can monetize your livestream is more direct. It is called a super-chat. In the event you are hosting a large number of people and you are covering each of your viewers questions. The viewer has the ability to assign a financial contribution to any of their messages, that is Called a “superchat”.
Super-chats are a way for a follower to support an artist financially. More importantly they are a great way for an an artist to earn on YouTube with their music. The Super-chat itself is indicated within the group chat. A subtle benefit of that may be that it helping to compel others to gift a financial donation to the artist as well.
For the one donating the money, It helps their chat to stand out form the other messages being sent within the group during the live session. In every experience I have had participating in these groups I know that It quickly gets the direct attention of the artist who is always sure to verbalize their appreciation for the support and to give the best effort to address whatever their supporters questions were. Pretty neat.
Be Sure To Tag Your Videos Appropriately
YouTube, being the second largest search engine in the world, in part operates by recommending a particular piece of content based on related indicators. By filling in the tags to your video with related searchable words, you increase the potential for your content to be recommended.
Then when a user searches YouTube and uses one of the words that you have included in the Tag field identifying your video, you have increased the prospect of your content being prompted to that user.
Brand Partnerships
A YouTube channel can also earn money buy agreeing to a partnership or sponsorship with a company that is promoting something. This can be a win-win for both a brand and the artist.
The product that you would be endorsing could be something that you legitimately use or otherwise. You have to decide if it is a reasonable endorsement that makes sense for your audience. After you do so you can decide how you might present your endorsement within your videos if not on your own then together with the brand.
Should you indeed take payment for your endorsement you must indicate that appropriately when you index your video in order to keep from having your video flagged or even taken down.
For more information on how to improve your financial standing as a musician/entrepreneur we have a great guide. It is all about making the transition from surviving as an independent artist to thriving. Here is the link; Good Luck!
Lastly
Well, that’s that. You’ve covered the essentials of turning your music into a YouTube income stream. But remember, it’s not just about the dollars—it’s also about sharing your creation and connecting with an ever-growing audience. So stay true to what you do best, keep the content flowing, and let your music shine. On the way, don’t get discouraged by the numbers. Instead, focus on refining your music and the message you want to convey. Consistency is key. That said, keep creating, stay consistent, and go earn that money on YouTube with your music!