Not enough music artists are taking advantage of what Youtube can offer them in terms of views, new fans, and overall brand engagement. While taking your music channel to hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers is hard, you can realistically get thousands of plays every month.
Youtube is one of those platforms under your arsenal that you don't want to sit and let stay idle for too long because there are millions of potential fans that are browsing there daily and have been trusting that site for almost 20 years.
While platforms like Tiktok and Instagram are also great ways to market your music, Youtube is one of, if not the most, longstanding and popular places for music artists to get heard, discovered, and reach their dreams from.
Creating live videos for a song that is already wildly popular is one of the easiest ways for artists and musicians to get free traffic and subscribers to their Youtube channel. This method doesn't require you to have any fan base at all; all you have to do is be talented!
Creating covers and remixes is a great way to show up in the search results for songs and topics that people are already looking for.
Remaking popular songs in your genre is a great way to get in front of a new audience, and if they like what they hear, they will be inclined to watch more of your content and subscribe for future videos.
While it can get a bit complicated in terms of copyright law and what you can post without it getting deleted, Distrokid conveniently offers a cover song service that allows you to get the correct license to upload covers to your channels.
Related Post: How To Not Get Copyright Sriked On Youtube
Two very popular tools that content creators who focus on Youtube find success with are called TubeBuddy and VidIQ. I personally benefited from using VidIQ since it showed me many keywords that I could consider uploading a video about in order to get seen.
These tools can help you see what keywords and topics music artists are uploading about. When you come across something that is often searched but doesn't have much competition, you could upload a great video at that top and get organic views over time.
Many artists and musicians have less than ten videos in total on their Youtube channels. A large majority of these artists have had channels up for almost ten years!
Don't be the type of artist that has a "dead" channel and goes for months or years without posting anything new.
A lot of artists fear that they only have to post the most premium, viral content on their channel, but it's not true. Vlog updates, streams of you performing at events, previews, trailers for upcoming songs or albums, and lyric videos are all music content that is great to upload to your channel.
Related Post: 26 Music Video Ideas And Concepts
Many times, you will see a Youtube channel having a high view count for a video that doesn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the channel but is a very relatable or intriguing video upload.
For example, you may come across a musician who regularly posts covers and original songs, but decided to post an anti-bullying video one day that received five times as much as their other videos.
This is because the video was very relatable and was able to draw in a large audience because of the unique topic. Don't be afraid to think outside of the box and post videos on topics that don't necessarily fit your overall theme.
These types of videos are great for attracting viewers and subscribers that may have never come across your channel had you not branched out.
One thing that the Youtube algorithm for sure takes notice of is called the click-through rate for each video. When your video has a high clickthrough rate, it shows Youtube that it is the type of video that they should place high on their search results.
The main factor that influences who will want to click on your video is what you upload as the thumbnail.
Youtube automatically makes a pretty decent thumbnail for you, but as you've probably noticed, the best Youtube channels consistently have eye-catching thumbnails.
Playlists are a huge deal when it comes to Youtube video consumption. Grouping your videos in playlists according to how they can appeal to your viewers is a great way to attract new visitors and increase the watch time of your videos from your current viewer and subscriber base.
If you are a Youtuber who has a lot of content, creating playlists is the way to go so that your viewers don't get lost in the mix of it all. Playlists that will fit a viewer's mood or intent work wonders in the Youtube music world.
For example, if you're a producer who makes a variety of beats, creating playlists for your chilled/relaxed beats, your turn-up instrumentals, and your beat tutorials is a great way to get a visitor glued into your channel for several minutes or even hours at a time.
The longer people tune into your channel, the more inclined they are to watch your videos regularly and share your content with their network.
Youtube shorts are a great way to get easy eyes onto your profile and videos because of how excited Youtube is about promoting them on their home page news feeds now.
Youtube has begun to offer shorts because it wants to compete with shorter video platforms like Instagram and TikTok, so your shorter video can attract users that want a taste of your content and could potentially turn into a subscriber.
Youtube shorts are also way easier to create and edit in comparison to a full video which will likely be 3 minutes or more for a music artist that is uploading to their page.
A large majority of very popular YouTubers often collaborate with other popular YouTubers.
They do this because it's a great way to get your content in front of a similar audience that may want to tune into and subscribe to your channel if the content is appealing enough.
The same method still works if you and the people you collaborate with don't have a huge network, but have several hundred or thousand subscribers.
Consistently collaborating with musicians in your genre is a great way to increase your viewers and subscribers over time, as long as the person you collaborate with has an active subscriber base.
Related Post: Successful Collabing - How To Collab With Other Artists
Another thing that you've probably noticed that many successful YouTubers do is that they ask their viewers to like, subscribe, comment, or turn on the notifications for their channel. Does it sound like a lot to ask? Yes, that's because it really is.
It may seem cringe to do, but these types of engagements are what make those hugely popular Youtubers get more success in the first place. The more positive signals that Youtube sees, the more people they will show your content to.
Come up with a unique way to ask your viewers to engage without it being too cringe or seeming too needy. Many Youtubers like to make a joke or a game out of the process to make it all the more appealing.
Many people accepting song submissions, including labels, radio stations, blogs, magazines, playlists, and similar companies, will want to hear a sample of your work before they decide to approve or deny it.
While some of them have strict rules about the format of music they accept, I suggest sending your demo material in the form of a Youtube link when you can, especially if your profile looks appealing and has all your details filled out there.
Youtube is one of the easiest ways to stream anything, so most music reviewers would prefer you to use this easy streaming service for them to check out your sound.
While you shop your music around, you can increase your views organically at the same time.
Some people you send your work to may be helpful enough to go the extra mile and like, comment, or subscribe to your material if they like what they hear, which can also really look good for your overall brand.
Related Post: Popular Songs Available For Covers And Arrangements From The Public Domain
As a session singer, writer, and producer that has worked with over 300 clients to provide high-quality jingles, singles, and features, Yona spends her time creating and marketing new music and helpful resources for creators. Check out Yona’s latest releases on her Spotify, her Youtube and share if you like it!
If you are in need of singer, songwriter or song producer services, see what Yona Marie can offer you on her services page.
