Are you an independent musician ready to launch your music career? Creating a YouTube channel is one of the best ways to get your music heard and engage with your fans. Nowadays, artists must have a strong online presence: across streaming platforms, social media like Instagram and TikTok, and YouTube. Artists have been able to “go viral” through this platform since its inception. To do so, it’s crucial to understand what kind of content works the best on the YouTube platform as a musician! YouTube videos for musicians usually consist of music videos, live sessions, and behind the scenes footage. Knowing how to optimize your content for YouTube and creating quality videos is key in growing your fanbase. It all starts with setting up your channel in the right way! In this article, we will provide you with the best tips on how to create a YouTube channel for musicians.
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Are you looking to promote your music on YouTube? ⬇️
1. Set up your channel specifically for music
The first step in creating your YouTube channel is to set up your channel specifically in the music category. When you sign up for an account, you will be able to add tags of the music genres you play. This will help you appear in search results and for new fans to discover your music! Make sure you use your artist name for the account and for the handle as well if it is not already taken. We recommend keeping your handles the same across social platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Facebook, YouTube- basically wherever you are promoting your project. This will be beneficial for consistent marketing purposes and help people to find you easily.
When you create a new channel, you want to upload two high quality photos to make it look good: a profile picture and a banner. You want to make a good first impression! The best looking YouTube channels are ones that are visually striking yet simple to understand from first glance. Now with YouTube Studio you can even customize the layout of your channel page to highlight certain videos for returning subscribers and for new visitors. Here is our advice for choosing high quality profile and banner photos with some examples:
Profile Photo:
- Headshot of artist or band photo
- Coherent with the banner photo: similar colors
- Recommended profile photo dimensions: 800 x 800 pixels, aspect ratio 1:1
- YouTube will resize the image to be displayed at 98 x 98 pixels
- The image will be cropped as a circle, so don’t put anything important in the edges
- Accepted file formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Banner:
- Coherent with/ or the same as the profile photo: similar colors
- Keep it simple and with little or no text, unless promoting an album
- Recommended banner dimensions: 2560 x 1440 pixels
- File size limit: 6MB
- Minimum dimensions: 2048 x 1152, aspect ratio 16:9
- Accepted file formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP
3. Add a short biography and links
Once your photos are uploaded, don’t forget to fill in the biography in the “About” section of your YouTube channel. It can be as simple as one phrase: Indie Folk music from Paris. Or, you can include a more detailed biography to give your fans more information about your musical style and career highlights. Check out our article on how to write a good biography here. You can also fill in details about your location and contact information for business inquiries.
Underneath the biography in the About section and also featured on the banner are links to other social medias. This is key in growing your fanbase and getting YouTubers to follow you or stream your music on streaming platforms. You can include links to your official website, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, Facebook, Apple Music, Soundcloud, and more. You can now even add pre-save links to this banner if you are about to release a new single or album.
4. Plan your content: music videos, live sessions, behind the scenes
Want to know how to create a YouTube channel for musicians that is successful? When planning content for your YouTube channel, it’s important to create a balanced mix of music videos, live sessions, and behind the scenes footage. Music videos are a great way to showcase your talents and promote your music, while live sessions give viewers a taste of your music in a more intimate setting. Behind the scenes footage is bonus material for your fans and provides an inside look at the creative process. It’s important to create a regular schedule that allows viewers to know when to expect new content.
Making videos for YouTube should be more of a thoughtful process than for other platforms. Did you film a 30 second snippet of a live rehearsal with your phone? Maybe that format is better for Instagram or TikTok. That being said, YouTube has now released a “Shorts” section where these kinds of videos from your camera roll can appear.
Consider creating playlists to organize your video content, and use social media and other platforms to promote your channel. Most of all, make sure that you are posting high quality videos that really illustrate your artistic universe. When you upload a video, put yourself in the place of the viewer. A quality video that you’ve put time and effort into will increase watch time. Ask yourself: would I click on this? A key factor in getting new YouTube subscribers is choosing video thumbnails that entice people to click. Choose a thumbnail that will stand out from the rest and generate clicks!
5. Follow a standard title format for your videos
When you upload videos to YouTube, it’s important to follow a standard title format for your videos so that people can easily find them. That’s video marketing 101! Also it helps to make your channel look more organized whenever you post a new video. Here are some examples of standard title formats for different kinds of content:
- Music Videos: Artist – Song Title (Official Video)
- Lyric Videos: Artist – Song Title (Lyrics Video)
- Song with fixed or moving image: Artist – Song Title (Official Audio) or Artist – Song Title (Official Visualiser)
- Live Sessions: Artist – Song Title (Live Session)
If you follow these standard formats, your YouTube account will look more professional, giving you consistent branding across the board. More importantly, organized titles, hashtags, and video descriptions will favor YouTube SEO, optimizing your content for the search-engine.
6. Engage with your fans and monitor your channel
When you start posting content, it’s important to engage with your fans and respond to comments regularly. Show your appreciation for their support by thanking them for their comments and liking their responses. You can also ask them questions in the comments section to start a conversation. You want to pay attention to your viewership! Some artists only look at how many views they get or their subscriber count and don’t take the time to engage with their community. It’s important to reply to fan messages on your YouTube channel and social media accounts. This will make them feel valued and appreciated, which will encourage them to stick around and continue to support your music.
In addition to engaging with your fans, it’s important to monitor your channel statistics by using YouTube analytics. You will be able to see the evolution of subscriptions, number of views, and your popular videos. Knowing your audience is key in your channel performance and for future marketing strategy. It’s about having brand-awareness: you, as the artist, are the brand.
7. Promote your channel
So, your YouTube page looks great and you’ve gotten the hang of how to make a quality YouTube video. Now you want to get more views and potentially start making money from your channel. Making money on YouTube may seem hard at first, but if you think of it as a business channel and are good at digital-marketing, you’ll be able to monetize your video views with ad revenue. Some artists even launched their music careers on YouTube with a viral video of a cover song! If your goal is to get over a million views and boost subscribers on Youtube quickly, try uploading a live session of a favorite cover song once in a while. Uploading videos regularly is key in boosting YouTube views. Check out our article on how to release a cover song on streaming platforms and YouTube here.
Another way to promote your channel is by collaborating with other YouTubers, vloggers, or influencers across social media platforms. You can even offer your music to YouTube creators to use in their videos if you want! That way, they can avoid dealing with copyright and licenses for original content, and you can get more exposure. They can even encourage their followers to subscribe to your channel by using embeds and a channel link.
Now that you now how to create a YouTube channel for musicians, it’s time to take your promotion to the next level! You can send your music directly to professionals in the industry on Groover, with guaranteed feedback within 7 days.