If you want to make money on YouTube as an artist, you need to know how it should be used. The path of how YouTube works for music artists isn't clear. The thing is, nobody understands YouTube’s position in music promotion, which is why many ignore YouTube until they have to drop a music video. Every artist should be able to take advantage of YouTube because, as you will see, it is a key part of your success.
SEO, Positioning, and Indexing
YouTube is all about search engine optimization and placement. Picture YouTube as a library for music and media on the internet. To find that music, you have to use a catalog system. If you can visualize this in a library, it works the same way.
YouTube is secondary
Most of your promotion will be done on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts. However, YouTube is perfectly positioned for those wanting to know more. Whenever a song is heard on Instagram or TikTok and a listener loves it, they go to YouTube or Google and search for it. So, YouTube is best used to place your music, visualizers, lyric videos, and music videos for optimized searching.
What type of media should be used?
Static audio videos do well with the artwork posted in the video with minimal or no editing.
Visualizers depict the feeling of the song without too much production.
Lyric Videos do well by solving three issues: listeners get to hear the music, see the lyrics, and you increase watch time, which is a win-win for you on YouTube.
Music Videos perform the best out of all of these as many listeners will want to view a video over lyrics. An optional version with lyrics is an alternative that can increase watch time as well.
Optimizing for SEO
Title:Â Artist - Title (Main title)(Version Dirty, Clean)
Description:Â Lyrics, Producer and Songwriter Credits, Publishing Credits, Engineering credits, Links to purchase anything.
First Comment:Â Take advantage of the first comment to sell anything or to encourage an action.
Multiplying the content with versions
Multiple versions will give the listener and consumers multiple options to choose from. In addition, it increases your available content in the system to keep others from trying to capitalize on your viewership by allowing the system to recognize who uploaded it first.
Monetizing before YouTube monetizes your channel
The easiest way to make this happen is to let your ContentID source (Symphonic, Tunecore) represent your videos until you reach the 4,000 watch hours. They will take a 20% cut on average but at least you’re getting paid from the beginning.
Use the Community Tab Like the old Instagram
Use this once a day to keep the channel rolling. Pictures, Text Posts, and Polls are really fun on YouTube vs other platforms. This is because YouTube is way more community-based than other platforms.
Last pieces
Complete the About section to optimize links to other social media pages.
Add a BIO filled with keywords about you. You can do this with Chat GPT.
Link your regular YouTube page to your YouTube music page!
But we didn’t do any promotion?
You can promote on YouTube but you’ll get better traction from using the Shorts function, Reels, and TikTok.
How quickly can I start seeing the benefits of this?
How soon can you start directing people to YouTube from other sources?
Wait, what about long-form videos?
You can post those here as well. However, take your time as these require a little more detail than short-form videos.
Check this out!
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Using YouTube this way...
Boosts your search engine optimization for Chat GPT and Google’s AI as well as standard search.
Refusing to use YouTube the right way...
Keeps you lost in the sauce, making it harder for listeners to discover you quickly while you’re making other content on other platforms. Contrary to popular belief, listeners choose YouTube over Spotify first any day!
Conclusion
By following these strategies, you'll see a transformation in your YouTube presence. No longer will you be lost in the mix; instead, you'll be strategically positioned to attract and retain an engaged audience. You'll understand how to use YouTube to your advantage, optimizing your content for search and creating various media types to keep your viewers engaged. With the right approach, YouTube will become an indispensable tool in your music promotion arsenal, driving your success as an artist.
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