Artists! Your YouTube channel is worth $500,000
Artists! You DO NOT want to skip out on making a Youtube channel and uploading content. Here’s why and how to do it:
YouTube is the biggest and baddest video sharing platform out in the market today. The behemoth of a social media platform boasts 2 BILLION monthly viewers. When you think about it, that is an insane number of users, which translates into an incredible amount of value for you. As a Music Entrepreneur, Artist, Producer, or Band, this massive market is perfect for tapping into. The massive user base allows you to build your brand quickly and send many listeners directly to your music or products. That means there are over 2 billion people who could potentially be your new fans or customers, all from creating a YouTube channel and sharing videos. Can you imagine the possibilities for your art and your brand?
First, let’s get your brain working with the possibilities!
Imagine for a moment that you start a channel brand new and make videos, you follow our direction, and in a few months, you’ve captured 2% of YouTubes monthly viewers (2% of 2 Billion = 40 Million), with 40 Million views that gains you an estimated $160,000 in revenue! That’s not even accounting for any advertisements you may have on the channel, or any products you might be selling, this is strictly what YouTube will pay you since you are keeping YouTube members interested. Let’s say that was all from one video, you can simply repeat the process and quickly see your income skyrocket. We haven’t even gotten into your live shows or merchandise yet! (See our BLOG for information on setting these up!)
Videos are the most engaging content on the internet and will always be for the longest time. Humans are visual creatures and videos make it quite easy to showcase talents, get messages across, and educate people on exactly who you are and what you’re interested in. You can bring people into your world and really give them a taste of what it’s like to be you, and around you. Which is something all fans secretly want, just think about your favorite artist, why is it that you like them? Isn’t it because you either want to be like them or be in a world that’s similar to what they talk about, or show? Luckily YouTube videos allow you to be as creative and crazy or introverted and secretive as you want, let your mind run wild when coming up with video concepts and experiment with everything. There really isn’t just one way to do this, so trying out as many different styles or projects as you like, the more the better.
Ok so let’s get into the technical stuff! You may already have a personal YouTube account, but for this you will want to create a Youtube Channel for Artists – basically a specific profile for your “Stage Name”, Band, Label, etc..
Basically what we mean is that you want to be professional, make an account for your Business, because that is what this is – YOUR BUSINESS. Your music, your content, your ART, is your BUSINESS, and having a professional account to reflect that will make things so much easier. It’s also easier for people to find you when you have your actual stage name or band name front and center for the profile name. Most people will google your name if they have heard of you, and making this as easy as possible for people helps bring in viewers and get you more audience members.
The Actual Technical steps to creating a Youtube channel:
1.) Go to Youtube.com
2.) Sign in with your existing Gmail or Email (save your password/login somewhere safe)
3.) Pick a Name for the Youtube channel
4.) Consider adding a logo and graphics to your profile page
5.) Have all contact information on your page for business inquiries
6.) Start uploading content to your channel
Yes, you will want to add in any graphics that you might have to your profile as this makes the page look much more interesting and professional. People will also start to associate your image with your name, and content so that you can quickly become recognized.
When Adding Content:
You have created your account and are thinking about adding in your video content. This can be a tricky step and usually where most people stop themselves from going any further. You may want to make content that is creative, fun, and engaging to your audience and yourself. So start with trying to figure out what “Your Voice” will be. A great place to start with that is by thinking about the content that you already consume. The videos from your favorite artists, streamers, twitchers, etc.. When you really think about it, you will notice that each of these people bring something very unique and interesting. They make content that you actually enjoy and in most cases want more of, why is that? What is it that makes this content so engaging or exciting? Get a notepad and some paper, or go into your notes app and start watching your favorite Youtube videos – then start writing all of the ways that the content that you are watching keeps your attention. You’ll be surprised at how many things you will notice and then start to see the similarities within this. The overlap is where you will want to focus and then start to practice these in your own content if they are to your liking. The best way to get good at something is to copy or borrow what works for others then modify it to yourself and your own personal characteristics overtime. This is the smartest and quickest way to get some beginning content pushed out, and of course, if you don’t like the content when you watch it later you can always delete or make the video private. At the very least you’ll have some content pushed out that you can then start sending people over to and begin the climb of gaining more followers and views on your videos. So we recommend not just placing music videos but also some content that would be eye catching and exciting to your fans. Maybe you and your band like to play pranks on each other when you’re on tour, or maybe you like to eat at different restaurants, maybe you’re a big movie buff, or you enjoy the gym. Start incorporating other elements into your content and make videos on your other activities to give your audience more of a personal feel and so that your fans can really get an idea for what you like to do, and who you are outside of your music.
When you get more advanced and start to gain more and more followers, you can begin to start asking your audience what types of content they want to see. Some very sophisticated content creators will pay attention to the previous videos that they have made that have done well and they will start to “double down” on that type of content since it works. Let’s say for example you make 100 videos, and out of those 100 you have a video that has done well above the rest. You will take that video and break it down, what made it get so many views? What separates this video from the others? Focus on that then try to recreate the magic, you’ll be looking at your own secret formula pretty soon.
Now, Collaboration is also a big thing, just like in the music business where Artists will make songs together or feature another artist on a track, maybe have them write some lyrics or provide a bit of the musical components to the song. The same applies to youtube videos, now as an artist you might already have several people who helped with a song, these are the same people you can have in your video content. Let’s say you had a producer work on the track, a friend do some guitar, and another artist come in for supporting vocals. These are the people that you want to have in your footage! Not only do you want them in the video but you should also consider tagging their respective social media profiles to get more eyes on the content. If you treat your collaborators well and encourage them to share the content you will most likely get many more views than doing it all solo, especially if these collaborators have their own followings online. You can all share audiences with each other and further your content creation career. Meaning more boosts in your music streams, views, followers, and earning potential.
Also consider collaborating with other Youtube or Social Media influencers once you have enough of an audience or if it would be in both parties’ benefit to do so.
