With more than half of all YouTube searches music-related, the platform is potentially a fantastic way of getting your music heard.
But on the flipside, its popularity can work against music makers. More than 100 hours of video content are uploaded every minute, meaning standing out above the online noise surrounding the service can be a real challenge.
At this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), a whole strand of the conference was devoted to YouTube, showing just how much its regarded as a key tool in the music marketer’s armoury. We heard from YouTube’s Jeroen Bouwman on how to effectively utilise the video platform to build an audience…
Get on YouTube
There are one billion active YouTube users. It’s also the number one place where people under 35 watch and listen to music, meaning that music artists are one of the biggest things on the platform. With electronic music, half of the top 10 music channels are related to this rapidly expanding genre. As the ADE website says, ‘if you don't have a presence there, you are simply not in the game’.
Consistency is rewarded
Uploading more is good as those who upload once every month will see more viewers. Consistency is rewarded on YouTube via its search algorithms. Basically, the more content you put up, the more it will rise to the top of the search results.
Employ a strategy
The most effective strategy involves hero, hub and hygiene content.
Hero content is usually made up of music videos or live sets. Artists usually publish five or six of these every a year. You don’t post many. This content is there to maximise attention on you.
Hygiene can be teasers and trailers. Or maybe a mini mix of a compilation of songs from a forthcoming album. Hub content is very format driven and ensures that people will keep coming back to your channel.
It’s not rocket science. You use hub and hygiene to maintain steady stream of content, driving views. Publish hero to spike traffic. Then continue publishing hygiene and hub to maintain visits and attract subscribers.
Episodic content is loved by YouTube users
Episodic content is what YouTube is all about. It lives and breathes on this platform. A good example is Tiesto’s In the Booth, a season looking at the life of Tiesto as a touring DJ. It’s a mixture of tour content and behind the scenes footage and is something that fans are really interested in.
Interactive content is a good way of engaging watchers
DJ Hardwell uses interactive to host a Q&A session. He’s asked questions via fans on social media and he’ll record a video answering them. Hardwell has created a self perpetuating format – as every time you air this and ask them to submit questions, you have your next show from those questions.
It’s a great example of how content needs to be sustainable. You need to figure out a way where it’s interactive, as every piece of content will generate four more from fan feedback.
You only need a smart phone to create engaging content
YouTube creators take their phone out, turn on the camera and they start creating straight away. The second you start talking about video with majors, they think about treatments and film shoots. In theory, all you need is your phone…
Read more from our time at ADE last week. Check out our highlights from the festival and some tips on how new artists can engage with brands.
But on the flipside, its popularity can work against music makers. More than 100 hours of video content are uploaded every minute, meaning standing out above the online noise surrounding the service can be a real challenge.
At this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), a whole strand of the conference was devoted to YouTube, showing just how much its regarded as a key tool in the music marketer’s armoury. We heard from YouTube’s Jeroen Bouwman on how to effectively utilise the video platform to build an audience…
Get on YouTube
There are one billion active YouTube users. It’s also the number one place where people under 35 watch and listen to music, meaning that music artists are one of the biggest things on the platform. With electronic music, half of the top 10 music channels are related to this rapidly expanding genre. As the ADE website says, ‘if you don't have a presence there, you are simply not in the game’.
Consistency is rewarded
Uploading more is good as those who upload once every month will see more viewers. Consistency is rewarded on YouTube via its search algorithms. Basically, the more content you put up, the more it will rise to the top of the search results.
Employ a strategy
The most effective strategy involves hero, hub and hygiene content.
Hero content is usually made up of music videos or live sets. Artists usually publish five or six of these every a year. You don’t post many. This content is there to maximise attention on you.
Hygiene can be teasers and trailers. Or maybe a mini mix of a compilation of songs from a forthcoming album. Hub content is very format driven and ensures that people will keep coming back to your channel.
It’s not rocket science. You use hub and hygiene to maintain steady stream of content, driving views. Publish hero to spike traffic. Then continue publishing hygiene and hub to maintain visits and attract subscribers.
Episodic content is loved by YouTube users
Episodic content is what YouTube is all about. It lives and breathes on this platform. A good example is Tiesto’s In the Booth, a season looking at the life of Tiesto as a touring DJ. It’s a mixture of tour content and behind the scenes footage and is something that fans are really interested in.
Interactive content is a good way of engaging watchers
DJ Hardwell uses interactive to host a Q&A session. He’s asked questions via fans on social media and he’ll record a video answering them. Hardwell has created a self perpetuating format – as every time you air this and ask them to submit questions, you have your next show from those questions.
It’s a great example of how content needs to be sustainable. You need to figure out a way where it’s interactive, as every piece of content will generate four more from fan feedback.
You only need a smart phone to create engaging content
YouTube creators take their phone out, turn on the camera and they start creating straight away. The second you start talking about video with majors, they think about treatments and film shoots. In theory, all you need is your phone…
Read more from our time at ADE last week. Check out our highlights from the festival and some tips on how new artists can engage with brands.
