Official Artist Channels ‘pull it all together’
YouTube wants artists and musicians to build a home on their platform. And they’re telling you how to do it.
YouTube made a concerted effort to reach music creators with PowerPoint presentations at both Music Biz 2018 and Summer NAMM in recent weeks. The company is aware that both music creators and music listeners/viewers are increasingly seeing YouTube as a go-to music platform. In the presentation titled ‘Creating a Home for Music on YouTube,’ the company showed how artists and songwriters can effectively showcase their work and connect and engage with fans.
Benefits of your own Official Artist Channel
The key, according to YouTube’s Nathan Sheppard*, is building and maintaining your Official Artist Channel (OAC). Most music creators probably have some kind of presence on YouTube, perhaps even their own channel. But YouTube believes that your OAC can be your prime marketing tool – if you take advantage of all its possibilities.
Among the benefits of a fully-functioning OAC:
- ‘Direct to Fan’ features: Your OAC unites your full body of work under one banner. Your fans and followers now have a single place to subscribe.
- Attribution: Visitors will see a music note icon next your name (or your OAC name) so they know everything posted here comes officially from you.
- Search optimization: When visitors search for any of your output on YouTube, your OAC shows up at the top.
The parts of an OAC
As Nathan pointed out, an OAC isn’t a new channel. It is a new layout that can be used on any channel that is owned and operated by you the artist, your management or your record label. He showed the ‘parts’ of an OAC: Continue reading “How to build community with YouTube”