How to Promote Your Music on YouTube: A Practical How-To

YouTube is a search engine, a streaming service and a short-video app at the same time. Here is a step-by-step approach for artists.

Step 1: Get an Official Artist Channel

An Official Artist Channel brings your music, videos and topic channel together under one profile with a music note badge. Request it through your distributor or a YouTube partner.

Step 2: Make your uploads easy to find

• Title format: Artist - Song (Official Video), (Lyric Video) or (Visualiser)
• Description with the lyrics, credits and links
• A custom thumbnail that reads clearly at small sizes
• Videos grouped into playlists by release

Step 3: Give every song more than one video

A music video, a lyric video, a live version and a short behind-the-scenes clip each reach different viewers and give the song more chances to be recommended.

Step 4: Use Shorts

Shorts can be up to three minutes long. Use them to test hooks, show the story behind a song and point viewers to the full track. Encourage fans to make their own Shorts with your sound.

Step 5: Protect and track your music

Through your distributor, Content ID can identify your recordings in other people's uploads so you can track and monetise them.

Step 6: Premieres and community

Schedule premieres for big videos so fans can watch together, and use posts and comments to keep the conversation going between releases.

Step 7: Consider ads carefully

YouTube ads can drive views from the right audience, but judge them by subscribers gained and listens elsewhere, not views alone.

Step 8: Review YouTube Analytics

Check traffic sources, audience retention and where viewers came from. Make more of what keeps people watching.

For hands-on campaigns, see this page on YouTube music promotion.