Streaming rules the music industry. This has its pros and cons. Of course, it’s awesome that Spotify, Apple Music, etc. provide a music flat rate and you don’t even have to bother with downloads anymore. But what’s on the flipside of this luxury? And, most importantly, what are the unwanted side effects? Today, we are shedding light on the invisible influence the mechanisms of the streaming services have on the actual sound and production of music.

Streaming heaven?

Streaming technology has massively changed the music scene. Services like Spotify and Apple Music have now become the backbone of the global music industry. The limitless accessibility of music is without question a blessing for consumers – but streaming also exerts an invisible influence on the way that music is made. Industry giants like Spotify, with more than 40% of market shares, are changing quite a few things when it comes to the sound and production of many songs.

One size fits all

“Nowadays, everything sounds the same” is a criticism that the modern music scene certainly has to live with. But that isn’t necessarily down to a lack of creativity on the part of the artists; they obviously want to get into the big playlists. The playlists, however, subscribe to a specific type of sound. A famous example would be Rap Caviar on Spotify – if artists want to be included in it, their songs must correspond with what is already working there. Thus, the playlists develop their own dynamic whereby a specific type of sound is presumed to promise the highest chances of success.

Sound for phone speakers

More and more people consume music via mobile devices. Since the rise of TikTok at the latest, however, artists seem to feel the need to make adjustments to their sound. While a few years ago, wall-shaking 808 kicks and a heart-rattling bass were the pinnacle of existence, what often prevails today is tame 808s that live off their bounce – and that come across perfectly through phone speakers. After all, how is a song supposed go viral if it only slaps through a HiFi system?

The death of intros

Streaming services pay per stream, not by playtime. The logical consequence is that songs are, therefore, becoming shorter and shorter. Generally, a stream counts after 30 seconds of playtime, so people’s attention needs to be kept for at least this amount of time. For this reason, a lot of current productions do almost entirely without an intro – they get right to the point. Shorter songs have one more advantage: Listeners can generate more streams and thus more profit in a shorter amount of time.

Algorithm pleasing

In the streaming era, it is crucial to have regular releases. That is not only due to the audience’s short attention span. Just like YouTube and other popular social media sites, streaming services are driven by algorithms that decide who gets what music in their release radar and other generated playlists. For the criteria of relevance of this artificial intelligence, it’s extremely important to have regular new releases and thus always stay on the radar.

The flood of singles

In order to have regular releases, you obviously can’t just whip out an album every few weeks. Through streaming, singles have gained more relevance than ever. While they used to be hardly more than a promo tool to advertise an upcoming album, it is now almost the other way around. That’s not just linked to algorithm pleasing but also to consumer behavior: For many, listening to an album from start to finish is unfortunately an outdated way of consuming music. No matter if they’re curated, algorithmic, or personal – playlists always want to be fed with new singles.

Friendship and features abound

Collaborations between artists have always been an important tool for cross promotion. In the streaming era, however, the effectiveness of this tool is exponentiated – because even without extensive plugging, the song will appear in the profiles of both artists. The profile of the other artist is only a click away. Rivalries, on the other hand, only result in the feuding fanbases skipping the respective rival in their playlists. This, by the way, sends a very bad signal to the algorithm.

TikTok’s scope is constantly being expanded. Currently, the platform is rolling out two new features: Stories that disappear after 24 hours like on Instagram, their pioneer, and the so-called Spark Ads. These are a way to sponsor original TikToks to boost their reach. Both features can especially help music creators successfully use TikTok as a promo tool.

Stories finally available on TikTok

Stories are a well-known feature by now. From Snapchat to Insta and even Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter – they all offer Stories. It will work just the same on TikTok: Creators have the option to share daily highlights that are available for exactly 24 hours and will then be automatically deleted. In contrast to their competition, TikTok additionally provides a comment section under their Stories. However, how long this new feature will be in testing and when it will ultimately be made available everywhere has not yet been revealed.

Why Stories?

For TikTok, this step definitely makes sense. This way, the platform inches closer to the level of interactivity of a classic social media site, thus expanding on the rather passive, algorithm driven consumer behavior by adding an actively usable function that specifically brings creators and closer together with their audience. When it comes to sharing up-to-date information on the day, Stories are practically indispensable for artists.

What are Spark Ads?

“Make TikToks not ads” has been the platform’s advice to advertisers from the start. To support this principle, TikTok is now launching their so-called Spark Ads. These represent a way to sponsor organic TikToks instead of just showing traditional commercials as ad clips, which was the practice in the past. This new feature allow content that is already performing well to be given helpful boost.

Spark Ads – a dream come true for musicians

For brands seeking to advertise, Spark Ads offer many exciting opportunities, but for musicians, too, this new feature can prove particularly profitable. Filtering out your most effective TikToks and giving them another push can get you strong results – especially since Sparks, just like other ads, can also be targeted for conversions, for instance. Developing the optimal strategy will take a few tries, but TikTok readily offers tips and support.

Don’t foget external content

Sparks can not only be used to promote your own TikToks. You can also sponsor other people’s content. If a creator used your song in a successful TikTok, you can invest ad funds in that, as well. All you need is the ad ID of the TikTok in question, which in most cases won’t be a problem after getting in contact with the creator. This feature is incredibly practical – after all, you are not the only person on Tiktok who is potentially promoting your song.

How does it work exactly?

In order to use Sparks, you will need a TikTok Business account. In the Ad Center, you will then have the option to access posts by creators who have allowed this. For that, they need to activate the ad authorization toggle under their privacy settings. Then, using the ad ID, your Tiktoks can be played as in-feed ads or top-view ads from the TikTok Business Center. Right now, the feature is still in beta, but don’t let that hold you back! The ad rates are still extremely cheap at the moment with CPMs of well below $2.

For most artists, Spotify is the streaming service that generates the most revenue for them. Accordingly, you should present yourself as well as possible on the leading music streaming service and show all information at a glance to the potential fans who come to your profile. We have the checklist how to make your profile the perfect business card for your music.

Checklist

Verification: Make sure your profile is verified, i.e. the blue check is displayed next to the artist name. This gives you access to Spotify for Artists and therefore all important data as well as the possibility to edit your profile. With iGroove you get the blue check without going through the verification process.

Spotify ID: With some distributors, including iGroove, you can store the ID of your profile so that all releases appear in the correct profile.

On-time delivery: Deliver your release to Spotify as early as possible, we recommend at least two weeks before release. This way you can meet the deadline for pitching and your release will appear in the release radar of your fans.

Biography: The bio should always be up to date and refer to the current release. If the text refers to the EP released three years ago, it doesn’t look very professional.

Social Media Links: Add all your social media links to your profile so that visitors can find you immediately and you can gain new followers.

Header & Profile Picture: Regularly update the header and profile picture to match the current release.

Image Gallery: Add several high-quality images and change them occasionally.

Canvas: Enhance the user experience with moving images.

Pre-Save: Increase your saves by pushing your release with pre-save.

Pitching: Pitch each of your releases to Spotify’s curators or use iGroove’s pitching service and present your release to four additional stores.

Waterfall Singles: If you release several singles before an album, it is recommended to add the previous singles to the next one. The 2nd single includes 2 songs, the 3rd single 3 songs and so on. This way you increase the streams on your previous releases.

Artist Pick: Change the “Artist Recommendation” regularly and point directly to your new release, a playlist or the release of an associated artist.

Artist Playlist: Create one or more playlists with all your songs so that your catalog gets the attention it deserves.

Tour Dates: Add your concert dates to your profile (including virtual concerts). This is possible via Songkick.

With pre-saves you give your fans the possibility to save your release on Spotify before the release. If this is done diligently, this will of course be noticed by the algorithms. In addition, thanks to the pre-save link, you can promote the release more targeted with a clear call-to-action. However, for the pre-save campaign to be crowned with success, you have to set it up correctly.

Two options for pre-saves

Users have two ways to save something on Spotify:

• If they click the heart at the top of the release, they save the entire release to their library.
• If they click the heart next to the song, they save only that specific track to their favourite songs playlist.

With Spotify for Artists (S4A), only the number of saves of the specific songs are visible (but with some delay), but not the saves in the library.

Depending on which tool you use to set up the pre-save campaign, you will need to enter either the UPC or EAN, the ISRC, or the Spotify URI. Since the music is not yet released at this point, you will only get these links through your distributor. The UPC/EAN identifies the entire release, while the ISRC belongs to the song. So if you release an album with 10 songs, you will get one EAN and 10 ISRCs. These codes also determine how your pre-save campaign will work.

Not all saves are visible in Spotify for Artists

If you use the UPC/EAN for your campaign, the fan saves your entire release in his library. These saves are therefore not visible in your S4A.

If you use the ISRC, only the specific song will be saved in your fan’s favourite songs. These saves are therefore listed in the S4A.

If you release a single, the case is clear: then it is recommended to use the ISRC, because you promote only the one song. For EPs or albums, you are faced with the decision if you want to push a specific song or the whole project. In this case we recommend the EAN.

How does it work with iGroove?

If you choose the free pre-save service at iGroove, we’ll find the Spotify URI for you and set up the campaign. Now it comes down to the format of the release:

Single (1-3 songs): the first song of the single will be added to your fan’s favourite songs plus the whole single to the library.

EP or Album: The whole release will be added to your fan’s library.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support.

Livestreaming has become more and more important on TikTok and an increasing number of musicians have been using the feature with quite success, as The Weeknd has proven. Within the span of one year, the consumption of livestreams has doubled. To provide creators with even more options to interact with their fans, TikTok has launched various new livestream features. Here’s the overview.

LIVE Events

With this tool, creators can let their audience know in advance when they will be going live. This also allows them to promote the event. Fans can sign up and receive a notification and then another reminder shortly before the livestream begins.

Go LIVE Together

It is now possible for two creators to, you’ve guessed it, go live together. This feature is especially useful for musicians, as it gives them lots of new options from jam sessions to Q&As to interviews, etc.

LIVE Q&A

This feature allows you to answer fan questions in real time.

Help for Hosts

With livestreams, you naturally want to connect directly with your fans. But performing and keeping an eye on the reactions of your audience at the same is tricky. Using this feature, you can ask someone to manage the conversations for you.

TikTok’s success continues

TikTok’s growth seems unstoppable. The newest data shows that the app has now been downloaded more than 3 billion times. They have thus become the first app not associated with Facebook to hit this milestone. This is good news for musicians, as well, since a recent survey has shown that after discovering a song on TikTok, 67% of users then proceed to listen to it on their preferred streaming platform.

TikTok teams up with Spotify

The relationship with Spotify seems to be a particularly close one. In Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Turkey, and the UK, TikTok users receive three months of Spotify Premium for free. It will be interesting to see whether this will just be a one-time marketing campaign or whether the two big players will pursue their collaboration further.

YouTube has recently launched a fourth monetization opportunity for creators: Super Thanks. This feature was added on top of Super Chat and Super Stickers, both used in livestreams, and channel subscriptions. Using Super Thanks, users can thank creators for their uploaded videos by sending them a certain amount money.

Revenue not only for livestreams

Super Thanks is available both on desktop and mobile devices (Android and iOS). Users have the option to transfer a fixed amount (2, 5, 10 or 50) in their preferred currency. When they do so, their comment will be highlighted and the transferred amount will be shown, as well. 30% of that will go to YouTube and the rest to the creator.

For musicians, this is certainly a welcome addition, since they are less focused on livestreaming compared to other creators. Now, their subscribers can reward them for music videos and behind-the-scenes content, as well. It is therefore wise to set up a strategy for encouraging fans to use the Super Thanks feature frequently.

Super Thanks not yet available for everyone

Super Thanks is still in beta at the moment and only available to select creators in 68 countries. To check whether you have access to it, log in to YouTube and then click on “Monetization” in the menu. Under the tab “Supers” you should then be able to see the option “Super Thanks” along with an on/off button. If that is not the case, you don’t have the option to use it at the moment. By the end of the year, Super Thanks should be available to everyone in the YouTube Partner Program.

Last year, we already gave you an update on social media trends and the worldwide use of different platforms. Hootsuite and We Are Social have now published their newest findings, and we have worked our way through the hundreds of pages of reports (Digital 2021 July Global Statshot Report and regional reports from Jan. 21) to put together for you the most important and relevant facts for musicians. Let’s jump right in

5.27 billion people own a cellphone, which represents 67% of the global population (2.3% more than the year before). Of these, 4.8 billion use social media, which is 57% of the global population. That is 520 million more than there were last year, signifying a strong growth of 13.1%. The six English-speaking countries we analyzed are some of the most frequent social media users, which also explains the relatively low growth rate there.

Worldwide	US	UK	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
57% (Growth: 13.1%)	72,3% (Growth: 4.3%)	77,9% (Growth: 4.4%)	84,9% (Growth: 8%)	79,9% (Growth: 0%)	82% (Growth: 2.8%)	76,4% (Growth: 3.1%)

On average, users spend almost 7h per day on the internet. Of these, 2.24 minutes are spent on social media (+1.2%), 1h 33 min. by streaming music (+/-0%), and one hour with internet radio (+3.4%). With the exception of the US, the English-speaking countries spend slightly less time on the web than the world average. They also use social media less and have shorter streaming times (although here, too, the US is the exception).

	Worldwide	US	UK	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Internet	6h 55 min.	7h 11 min.	6h 26 min.	6h 26 min.	6h 13 min.	6h 39 min.	6h 30 min.
Social Media	2h 24 min.	2h 07 min.	1h 49 min.	1h 46 min.	1h 46 min.	1h 55 min.	1h 55 min.
Streaming	1h 33 min.	1h 35 min.	1h 15 min.	1h 11 min.	1h 22 min.	1h 20 min.	1h 23 min.
Radio	1h 00 min.	1h 09 min.	1h 12 min.	1h 07 min.	1h 05 min.	1h 10 min.	1h 11 min.

A fan-favorite pastime of internet users is videos. A whopping 93.4% watch videos online. A decent 38.6% stream music (23% pay for it, too), 22.8% listen to internet radio, and 18.7% consume podcasts. The English-speaking countries are among the pioneers of streaming and in all of them, more than 59% of internet users stream music. There is also a significantly higher percentage of internet radio and podcast listeners. The Irish, here, have revealed themselves to be absolutely massive audio users.

	Worldwide	US	UK	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Videos	93.4%	92.3%	89.4%	91.6%	88.1%	94.3%	93.8%
Streaming	38.6%	69.6%	61.8%	59.6%	64%	65.7%	70.3%
Online Radio	22.8%	39.9%	37.3%	36%	34%	34.4%	42.4%
Podcasts	18.7%	39.3%	33.2%	31.4%	35%	34.8%	41.2%

On average, people worldwide use 6.6 social media platforms. But these don’t seem to suffice for the users in the six countries we’ve examined. They have between 6.8 (Canada) and 8 profiles (Ireland) per person.

Worldwide	US	UK	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
6.6	7.1	6.9	6.8	7.2	7.6	8

Now, let’s take a look at which social media platforms are used the most.

Worldwide	US	UK	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Facebook	YouTube	YouTube	YouTube	YouTube	YouTube	YouTube
YouTube	Facebook	Facebook	Facebook	Facebook	Facebook	WhatsApp
WhatsApp	Instagram	WhatsApp	FB Messenger	FB Messenger	FB Messenger	Facebook
Instagram	FB Messenger	FB Messenger	Instagram	Instagram	Instagram	FB Messenger
FB Messenger	Twitter	Instagram	Twitter	WhatsApp	WhatsApp	Instagram
WeChat	Pinterest	Twitter	WhatsApp	Twitter	Snapchat	Twitter
TikTok	Snapchat	LinkedIn	Pinterest	Snapchat	LinkedIn	LinkedIn
QQ	LinkedIn	Snapchat	LinkedIn	LinkedIn	Pinterest	Snapchat
Douyin	TikTok	Pinterest	Snapchat	Pinterest	Twitter	Pinterest
Telegram	Reddit	TikTok	TikTok	TikTok	TikTok	TikTok
Sina Weibo	WhatsApp	Skype	Reddit	Skype	Skype	Skype
Snapchat	Skype	Reddit	Skype	Reddit	Reddit	Reddit
Kuaishou	Twitch	Twitch	Twitch	Twitch	Neighbourly	Viber
Pinterest	Tumblr	Tumblr	WeChat	WeChat	Twitch	Twitch
Reddit	WeChat	WeChat	Tumblr	Viber	Viber	Tumblr
Twitter	Imgur	Viber	Imgur	Tumblr	WeChat	WeChat

Both worldwide and in the English-speaking countries, specifically, YouTube and the products of Facebook (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger) continue to dominate. The ranks that follow are filled with various platforms in various orders, which for the English-speaking countries include Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Snapchat, although Snapchat is ahead of TikTok across the board.

Comparing Instagram and Facebook, we observe that Instagram is ahead when it comes to female users in the 16-24 and 25-34 age range. Older users prefer Facebook. Looking at male users, Instagram only takes the lead in the 16-24 age range, all others are dominated by Facebook.

Streaming has changed many things, not least the listening pattern of consumers. While in the past most successful songs came from the US or the UK, it is completely normal today for listeners in Germany to listen to K-pop, Nigerian songs to be streamed in the US, or Latin American artists to make it big in Asia. Through streaming, you can theoretically reach listeners all around the globe. But how can you really break into new, foreign markets?

Whereas in Europe, Japan, or Korea the population is ageing, there are countless young people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who are hungry for new music. They might not have had a record store nearby in the past, but now, the majority of them has cellphones and thus access to all kinds of music. For the longest time, the music industry put their sole focus on a few countries only. This is rather understandable, because only 36 countries used to make up 98% of the profit. However, the knowledge of the remaining markets was lacking. Today, thanks to the artist tools provided by Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, or other platforms such as Chartmetric, you have all the relevant data at your fingertips.

Recognize the signs

It’s important to regularly check the analytics of the streaming services and social media platforms, so you can spot it straight away whenever you attract attention in an unexpected market. When that happens, you have to respond immediately: In this fast-moving age, a hype can be over in the blink of an eye and you might have passed up a great opportunity. But not every quick rise automatically means a chance to expand into a new market. Similarly, not every market is suitable for your music, no matter how lucrative it might seem. China, for instance, is always interesting due to its size alone, but it’s also very hard to crack, because the market is extremely closed off.

Domestic market first?

Experts are split on whether it is better to first gain a foothold in your domestic market or whether you should just invest into whichever market shows the biggest demand. What’s clear is that it’s always easier to build something up in a market that you are familiar with. You have fewer challenges going on tour and you know the media landscape already. Breaking into a new market, on the other hand, takes more time and a bigger budget – and those are still by no means a guarantee for success.

Others, however, find that you should seize your chance wherever it’s presented – be it at your own front door or at the other end of the world. Because once you’ve established yourself in one market, the algorithms often also ensure success in other countries, including, at some point, the domestic market. But whatever you decide to do, you need a good team as a foundation that will support you through these steps.

Marketing

If you are aiming for a new market or perhaps already experienced first signs of success there, you will need to market yourself in that location. For starters, you can use targeted ads on social media, but you absolutely need to check first which social media platforms and streaming services are most popular in the corresponding market. For your long-terms plans, however, you should work with a local promoter to really be able to break into the market.

You will need people who are familiar with the local scene. Hiring these experts will be often significantly less expensive than in Europe or the US. You should also keep in mind that the streaming services might not pay as much in the up-and-coming markets. For one million streams from the US, you will receive significantly more than you would for one million streams from the Philippines, for example.

Additionally, it is always wise to observe what the competition is doing. Where are similar artists being streamed and what markets do they fail to win over?

When you want to open your own website, chances are fairly high that the preferred domain with the artist or band name is already taken. You’re then forced to choose a different name or a different ending, which often doesn’t look pretty and also doesn’t really help people find your website easily. For musicians, there will soon be a solution to the problem, and that is .music domains.

Pre-register the domain now

Originally, the .music domains were supposed to be launched last year, but like many other things, the plan was delayed because of the pandemic. However,  it seems like it will become reality soon enough, and people are now able to pre-register the domain of their choosing under music.us. If you don’t want to be disappointed again, you should make sure to do it in time. To receive a domain, you have to get verified, which also shows the users that the website is an official one. Additionally, .music domains are supposed to rank better in search engine results.

A domain for the music industry only

According to the information we currently have, the domains will only be given to people who are actually active in the music industry. This is to avoid cybersquatting, people buying domains to sell them for a lot of money later. Those who can get a .music domain include:

• Artists/bands
• Labels
• Publishers
• Songwriters
• Copyright collectives
• Music unions
• Music managers and agencies
• Music promoters
• Music associations
• Music radio stations
• Etc.

Do you need your own website as a musician?

In the era of social media, some people might wonder whether artists even need their own website still. Well, there are at least a few reasons that speak for maintaining a website in addition to your presence on your preferred social media platforms:

• Clear organization: Everything is in one place and fans as well as media outlets or bookers immediately have all the necessary information and links at hand.
• Professionalism: Everyone has social media accounts, but on a website, you can present yourself as a professional with clear information and quality press photos.
• Individuality: Even more so than your social media profiles, you can customize your website according to your style and image.
• Sales channel: Be it with links or your own online shop, you can use your website to point potential listeners directly to your music or merch.
• SEO: Having your own website optimizes your visibility on search engines.
• Fan data: Through your website, you can receive more fan information and e-mail addresses and build up a mailing list.
  

No one can deny the importance of playlists. Many listeners consume music mainly through playlists and discover new songs this way. For the artists, they are a tool to increase their streaming numbers and stimulate the algorithm. Some experts, however, are of the opinion that playlists have a negative impact on the connection between fan and artist. We’ll show you why.

The song is bigger than the artist

Many of the top hits today first go viral on TikTok and only then make their way into the big playlists where they accumulate millions of streams. Many of these artists are unable to follow up that success with their new releases. This is not only due to the short-lived nature of TikTok trends, but also the fact that a spot in a playlist doesn’t automatically mean a massive growth in the fanbase. Or, to put it in other words: Nowadays, the song often gets a bigger spotlight than the artist.

A prime example for this are the numerous LoFi producers who have millions of streams but whom no one would recognize on the street. Their success is based on playlist placements but very few people actually care about the artists behind the songs. While this might be an extreme case, more and more listeners do consume playlists without really knowing who they are listening to, much less engaging with the artist and their discography.

An artist can take the charts by storm with one song, and get swallowed up in the sea of uploads with the next. When the song is bigger than the artist, the result is an enormous dependency on playlists and a total lack of planning reliability. It is important for fans to have a connection to the artists. But these rarely happen with playlists. The listeners choose their playlist based on their current mood and proceed to listen to the music passively. Since around two thirds of music is consumed through playlists, this effect should not be underestimated.

Less top hits – more one hit wonders

The trend can also be observed in the charts: There have never been as many different songs passing through the billboard charts as they did over the course of 2020. This underscores another analysis which shows that there are fewer and fewer true top hits today. The biggest hit in the first half of 2021 was “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo with 460.2 million streams. That’s a significantly lower number than what the biggest hits of previous years received within the same timeframe (Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” in 2020 with 727.7 and „Old Town Road“ in 2019 with 596.1 million streams).

So, while streams are continuously increasing, the megahits generate fewer and fewer of them. If we look at the top ten most streamed songs, we can observe a plummeting trend here, as well. The number has been sinking for the past two years and is now on the level it was at in 2017, when the total streaming numbers were 80% lower than they are today. To conclude, there are more and more songs that only go viral for a short period of time. And while the social-media-playlist bubble is jauntily producing new one-hit wonders, the number of artists with sustainable success is sinking.

Reduce dependency on playlists

Of course, you should still try to get your songs into playlists – big and small. But what’s even more important is to build a solid fanbase and garner a lot of followers, so that a song can still perform well even when it is not considered by the important playlists. Many artists are trying to decrease their dependency on playlists by looking for other sources of revenue, be it monetizing their catalog, generating money through Twitch, Patreon, or other platforms, or by trying their luck with NFTs. 

YouTube is one of the most relevant platforms for musicians. But getting reach on YouTube can be tough. Learn how to make the most of the video platform in this article.

YouTube is one of the most relevant platforms for musicians. In order to reach a large audience with music videos, the video platform is basically the only choice. However, as with any other social medium, various algorithms work in the background to decide which content is suggested to users. A basic understanding of YouTube’s playout mechanisms can therefore give musicians and managements a significant edge in the placement and evaluation of their own productions.

YouTube’s algorithms

Google, the corporation behind YouTube, keeps its content algorithms top secret and in constant flux to avoid being cracked or circumvented. Nevertheless, resourceful analysts repeatedly manage to analyze the behavior of these algorithms through trial-and-error procedures and the evaluation of best-practice examples and therefore identify the decisive factors for the success of a video.

Besides the subscription box there are three important ways users can come across your videos: The search engine, recommendations of similar videos, and the home page. Each of these is based on a separate calculation process that decides how prominently a video is played and where it is recommended based on factors such as views, average play time and viewer demographics. These factors are called key performance indicators or KPIs for short.

The most important KPIs

Some of these KPIs are particularly relevant: The click rate for example, shows how many people click on your upload and take at least a brief look at the video. A high watch time indicates that viewers are watching the video for a while. Many interactions in comment columns and ratings are also welcome. How your video performs in the various aspects determines how and to whom YouTube suggests the video. Below you’ll learn more about the crucial KPIs and how to evaluate them.

Tools you should use

In addition to video uploads, YouTube offers a variety of features that you should take full advantage of. Because videos are not the only way to connect with your subscribers and those who might become subscribers. For this there is the community tab, where you can promote external links or refer to upcoming projects. YouTube stories basically work like they do on other socials. The same applies to the #Shorts, so to say YouTube’s TikTok or Reel function. However, this feature is still in beta and will be rolled out gradually.

The specific algorithms that YouTube works with are top secret and change regularly. On the one hand in order not to become too comprehensible, on the other hand in order to optimize the user experience – because at the end of the day, Google is all about the viewers, who should spend as much time as possible on YouTube. Their own user behavior also plays a strong role in the playout.

Analytics

YouTube’s analytics offer comprehensive insights into the performance of your uploads, the audience you reach, the traffic sources and much more. Keeping an eye on your analytics and targeting them can give you valuable information. This information will help you, to schedule your future uploads, prepare them for your audience and tag them in a meaningful way. By the way, iGroove also offers you comprehensive analytics tools for your streaming data – so you can keep an eye on the performance of your songs and push for the best possible results.

Impressions

The first contact with viewers is already made through the thumbnail and the title of your video. Below you’ll learn how to design these optimally. But as soon as someone scrolls by and sees your video, even without clicking on it, the upload creates an impression, i.e. a contact. Many impressions are good and important, but they don’t bring traffic – the video has to be clicked and watched for at least 30 seconds.

Click rate

The click rate represents the ratio of impressions to views. If 5 out of 100 people who stumble upon your upload watch at least 30 seconds of the video, the upload has a click rate of 5% – a slightly above-average value, by the way. A low click rate is probably due to an unflattering title or thumbnail, but can also be due to your video being suggested to the wrong people. That can be greatly optimized by yourself. More on this later.

Watchtime & Interaction

Once viewers have landed on your video, it’s important to keep them there and encourage them to interact. YouTube’s algorithms favor uploads that don’t close quickly. If many people watch your video until the end, the algorithm concludes that it must be something particularly interesting and plays it generously. If many users write comments or rate the video, YouTube also favors the video enormously, since it is obviously particularly exciting or polarizing content.

Demographics

YouTube tells you a lot about your viewers. Especially age, gender and location are relevant values. Knowing your audience allows you to cater to their needs and behaviors. If you know what time of day your viewers are most active, you can time your uploads precisely. Knowing your fans can also help you plan your merch production, for example, if you derive the size key from the demographics of your audience. If you have a particularly large audience in a particular city, make a tour stop there.

Access sources and behavior flow

Knowing the sources of traffic to your videos is also a key advantage. Not getting much traffic via the subscription box? Communicate more with your subscribers via the community tab, set up future premieres if necessary. Instagram brings you a lot of traffic? Good to know, maybe you should advertise there or directly post the YouTube link instead of the streaming link to your new single. The playlist in your endcard isn’t getting clicks? Add another single instead.

You should definitely look at your YouTube analytics on a regular basis and put the different KPIs in perspective. What’s doing well? What’s going badly? Optimization works through constant observation, evaluation, and trial and error. While music videos offer less room for maneuver than other content, drawing the right conclusions from your analytics can help you tailor future uploads much better to your audience and content.

Meanwhile, you’ve learned how YouTube’s content algorithms work and how to evaluate your analytics to optimize future uploads. To do this, you need to know your audience and understand how your own content works. If your analytics show that you’re getting a lot of views from another rapper’s video recommendations, it might make sense to target their fans in the future.

The channel

To begin with, you should make sure that your channel is well presented. The first thing visitors see is your header and welcome video. You should make sure that your header is appealing. Note that the graphic scales depending on the device. The welcome video is your current upload by default. You can also provide a dedicated video that introduces you. In the customize section, you can set a watermark, link your socials, and set a custom channel URL. It’s also important to set appropriate tags for your channel.

The keyword

The center of YouTube SEO are the tags. These are keywords that YouTube uses to rank your upload. A tutorial on how to mix a rap song should clearly focus on the keyword sequence “mix a rap song” – people search a lot for that, and YouTube can do a lot with the info about the video’s content. Variations like “mix hip hop song” can also be helpful for findability. You can check which phrase you should put your focus on in Google Trends – there you can check the search volume of your keywords.

Title and thumbnail

The most important keyword should be placed at the beginning of the video title. For music videos, this is usually the name. The title format for music videos is more or less standardized – you can’t go wrong with the format “Name – Song Title (Producer)”. Formulations like “Official Video” hardly play a role anymore. The fact that it is a video should be seen at first glance in the thumbnail. The single cover is therefore usually not very suitable. In addition, people should be able to recognize you immediately – small details are taboo!

Description

Your keyword should also appear frequently in the video description, which can contain a lot of text. 2-3 times per 100 words would be optimal. The more a term appears at the front of the text, the more relevant YouTube considers it to be a keyword. This also applies to the video title. You can also link related videos that you want the algorithm to associate your upload with in the description. Hashtags you use in the description will appear above the title.

The tags

The tags themselves are not valued as much by YouTube as they were a few years ago. Now, keywords in the title and video description, as well as the behavior of your viewers, are much more relevant. Still, you should tag your uploads properly. Depending on your strategy, you can spread your tags widely to inform YouTube comprehensively about the content of your upload, or you can use tags sparingly – this is usually more profitable. Many tags dilute the most relevant terms, so the algorithm can’t know exactly what to focus on.

Preparing your YouTube upload in the best possible way can make the difference between winning and losing on the video platform. With our crash course, you now have the tools you need to navigate the video platform jungle.

Do you want to give your video an extra boost? With our effective YouTube advertising, we give you the opportunity to reach numerous new fans and generate additional views.

While TikTok only recently announced that they will be increasing their maximum video length to three minutes, YouTube has launched a copy of TikToks short-form videos called YouTube Shorts. This new format has been tested for quite some time first in India and later in the US. Now, it will be rolled out in more than 100 countries and will thus be available anywhere YouTube is available. With Shorts, YouTube wants to give musicians and other creators another way to connect with fans directly.

How does YouTube Shorts work?

Similar to TikTok, you record the video directly on your smartphone, upload it, and then edit it whichever way you want. Of course, you can also add music to your videos. The standard length is 15 seconds, but you can also change that to 60 seconds. However, audio content from the Audio Library can only be added to the 15-second videos. In addition to songs from the Audio Library, you can also use audio content from YouTube videos. More information can be found here.

Content ID also for YouTube Shorts

As an artist, you should know: The Content ID is applied to YouTube Shorts, as well. This means that if someone uses your song, it will be recognized by the Content ID. If you have set up your Content ID via your distributor and selected the “block” option, then those videos will be removed. As soon as ads also show up on YouTube Shorts, you will be able to share in the revenues via the Content ID whenever your song is used in a video.

YouTube Shorts Fund

For the creators, YouTube has set up a $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund. However, you cannot apply for it yourself; instead, YouTube will directly approach the creators who post content that they deem interesting and that is viewed by many users. Additionally, YouTube promises to work on other monetization options, as well.

Which short video services are establishing themselves?

YouTube is clearly feeling the pressure from TikTok, even more so after a recently released study showed that users in the US and UK are spending more time per month on TikTok than they do on YouTube. It will certainly be interesting to see whether the market will be big enough for TikTok, Triller, Snapchat, Reels, Shorts, and various other short-form video options. It is well possible that only some of them are able to establish themselves long-term while others are quietly abandoned.