Why ought to musicians use YouTube?
YouTube is a prime platform for music discovery— 70% of Individuals aged 12 and up use it to seek out new music.
With over 2 billion individuals watching music movies on YouTube every month, it presents large potential for impartial artists to achieve followers and develop a worldwide viewers.
As an artist, you need to use the platform to share your music and join with listeners by way of YouTube Shorts, distributed Artwork Tracks, music movies, behind-the-scenes clips, and extra.
This information will present you ways get began on YouTube by establishing your profile and planning your video content material.
Tips on how to arrange your YouTube channel
First, create a YouTube channel in your artist title.
Profile picture
Make your profile picture immediately recognizable so followers comprehend it after they see it. A photograph of you performing dwell, your artist brand, or your newest album paintings are all good contenders.
Banner picture
Your banner picture ought to complement your profile with a high-resolution, wider-frame picture.
Professional tip: You possibly can swap out your banner within the lead-up to a launch with a variation of your paintings or different promotional picture and embody info in your upcoming launch (title, launch date, name to motion).
About your Channel
Present some details about who you’re and the content material that guests can anticipate out of your channel.
You possibly can copy your artist bio into your “about” part and easily add in a number of particulars about how you propose to program your channel.
House web page
After getting your channel arrange, take some steps to personalize your own home web page. YouTube supplies a number of instruments that can assist you set up, promote, and develop your channel.
- Arrange your channel: Use video classes and playlists to make your channel homepage extra navigable for guests. Be aware that playlists can embody related content material from different channels, equivalent to interviews, live performance footage, collaborations, and extra.
- Select a channel trailer—a video that mechanically performs when a person visits your web page for the primary time. You should use this characteristic to make a personable welcome video for brand new followers.
- Select a highlight—a video that mechanically performs when a subscribed person visits your web page. You should use this characteristic to focus on upcoming or latest music movies and releases.
- Add related hyperlinks: Make it simple for brand new YouTube followers to seek out you throughout platforms. Hyperlink your social media, web site, merch, and pre-save pages proper to your profile.
Planning your content material on YouTube
After getting a profile arrange, it’s time to start planning your content material. Decide what sort of content material you’ll wish to create, who your supreme viewers is, and the way continuously you’ll submit to maintain them engaged.
Content material sorts
Listed below are some varieties of content material to think about in your channel:
- Music movies: Inform the story behind your music with a fascinating video to accompany your monitor
- Dwell footage: Let your followers relive your greatest dwell moments
- Cowl songs: Construct assimilations and share your favourite songs by releasing covers
- Brief-form leisure: YouTube shorts are a robust solution to attain followers sooner with participating, bite-sized movies. You possibly can minimize down your long-form content material into teaser clips to submit to Shorts, which may help drive visitors to your profile by reaching new audiences.
- Behind the scenes clips: Provide followers a glimpse into your inventive course of, recreation time, and enjoyable tour diary content material.
- Dwell streams and Q&As: Interact with followers in actual time by way of dwell performances and AMAs on-line
- Upcoming launch teasers and trailers: Construct anticipation for an upcoming launch by way of quick teaser clips of the recorded monitor or a dwell efficiency
- Way of life and Vlogs: Any non-music content material that gives perception to your day by day life as a musician may be participating for prime followers
In case you have an upcoming launch, you need to use YouTube to host any video belongings you’re creating as part of your launch technique equivalent to a music video, live performance footage, and lyric movies.
Constructing an viewers on YouTube
Should you’re new to YouTube however already lively on platforms like Instagram or TikTok, begin by figuring out what content material resonates along with your viewers there. Cross-posting confirmed content material can rapidly construct engagement on YouTube.
Use Shorts to Construct Momentum
YouTube Shorts are short-form movies. You possibly can create fast, enjoyable movies to achieve new listeners and drive visitors to your profile. Begin with informal content material—no want for a cultured music video instantly. Listed below are a number of simple concepts for YouTube Shorts
- Intro Shorts: Create a 15–30 second clip introducing your self—title, location, style, and a fast story or distinctive incontrovertible fact that units you aside.
- Music teasers: Share a catchy snippet out of your newest monitor or a dwell efficiency. Covers additionally work nicely to indicate your influences and join with followers over acquainted songs.
- Behind-the-scenes and life-style: Present your inventive course of, your gear, or moments from day by day life as an artist. These clips construct connection and authenticity.
- Engagement prompts: Ask questions like “Which model do you want higher?” or “What ought to I cowl subsequent?” to spark feedback. You can too run countdowns or duet challenges to spice up interplay.
- Traits with a twist: Be a part of trending sounds or codecs, however add your private type. Mashups, remixes, and reactions to fan content material assist you to keep related whereas staying true to your artistry.
- Put up frequency
There’s nobody normal submit frequency for constructing an viewers. What issues most is consistency. Select a cadence that matches your capability and objectives, then follow it.
Put up lengthy kind movies for followers who need extra
When you’ve began gaining visits to your channel by way of shorts, you may drive deeper engagement with long-form content material equivalent to music movies, playlists of Artwork Tracks, and compiled behind-the-scenes content material.
Align With Your Targets:
- Develop your viewers and drive streams: Sync your content material calendar with launch dates. In between, fill gaps with light-weight content material like Shorts, behind-the-scenes clips, or fan engagement movies.
- Construct a YouTube neighborhood: Develop an editorial calendar with 2–3 core content material themes (“pillars”) and submit usually. This helps set viewers expectations and construct loyalty.
- Use YouTube as a content material hub (e.g. for embedding in your website):
Frequency issues much less right here. Deal with high quality uploads—music movies, live performance footage, or visualizers—and drive visitors by way of cross-promotion on different platforms.
Key Takeaways:
- Put up at the very least one long-form video monthly, or two throughout a launch cycle.
- Put up Shorts as typically as you want—even day by day. The extra you submit, the extra possibilities you must be found.
- Keep constant to remain seen. YouTube’s homepage is pushed by beneficial content material, not simply subscriptions. Should you’re inactive, even your subscribers gained’t see your movies. Routine posting retains you prime of thoughts.
Importing Lengthy-Kind Content material to YouTube
When you’ve created a video, it’s time to add it! Make it simple for followers to seek out and have interaction along with your content material by following these greatest practices.
- Title & Description: Use clear, keyword-rich titles. Write a 2–3 sentence description that naturally contains related key phrases. Standardize your title codecs for templates uploads like music movies.
- Be Correct, Not Clickbait: Deceptive titles result in quick watch instances and excessive bounce charges, which might harm your video’s attain.
- Thumbnails Matter: A/B check thumbnails to see what drives clicks. Use high-contrast, in-focus pictures—faces carry out greatest. Keep away from litter and restrict textual content.
- Increase search engine marketing with tags and classes: Choose a related class and add particular tags, together with your artist title, monitor title, and style key phrases.
- Embody a Name to Motion: Inform viewers what to do subsequent and at all times embody a hyperlink when related. Examples embody streaming a track, liking and subscribing to your channel, or shopping for live performance tickets. You possibly can place CTAs into finish display data playing cards and video descriptions for CTAs.