As we have reported before, YouTube wants to be the most valuable revenue generator for the music industry. YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, has recently set 2025 as their target. According to the newest numbers, YouTube paid out USD 4 billion to artists, labels, and distributors, 1 billion less than Spotify. But how is YouTube planning to overtake the industry leader? Well, on the hand, with the rapidly growing ad revenues and on the other, with the tremendous growth of YouTube Music.

High music consumption on YouTube

A quarter of all videos consumed on YouTube is music content. Another quarter comes from media companies and the remaining 50% from creators. This is an impressive number, especially if you consider that YouTube has 2 billion monthly users who watch one billion hours’ worth of videos every day (meaning 250 million hours of music are consumed daily on YouTube). This also means that musicians are receiving a considerable part of the ad revenues – which are growing enormously.

Ads revenue rises heavily

In the first 9 months of this year, YouTube generated USD 20.21 billion from advertisements, more than they did across the whole year in 2018 or 2019. By the end of the year, analysts predict the number to reach USD 29 to 32 billion. Using advertisements, YouTube thus makes more profit than the entire music industry. And a pretty portion of that sum should be going into the pockets of the musicians.

If music makes up a quarter of video consumption, the music industry should be receiving around USD 7.25 and 8 billion. But this number probably won’t be reached, since during the time period in which the music industry received the USD 4 billion, YouTube made 24.8 billion in advertising turnover, so a quarter would have been equivalent to 6.2 billion. Still: rising ad revenues means more money for the music industry.

YouTube Music establishes itself

A strong growth can also be observed at YouTube Music, which has now reached 50 million subscribers (including YouTube Premium customers who automatically have YouTube Music in their subscription). In a short amount of time, YouTube Music has thus established itself as one of the most important streaming services out there and is currently showing the highest growth rates.

This might set alarm bells ringing for some, since YouTube has a bad reputation when it comes to paying their musicians. Indeed, the payouts for Art Tracks or those made via the Content ID are rather meager. However, we must look at YouTube Music separately, and the numbers show that the payout per stream does hold up to the rates of Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. We will analyze in more detail how big these payments exactly in another post.

YouTube with enormous market power

Whether or not YouTube will reach their lofty goal is still written in the stars. But they definitely have the potential. YouTube alone has enormous market power, even more so as part of the behemoth Alphabet (Google). They also offer a multitude of opportunities for musicians, from streaming on YouTube Music to Art Tracks to music videos to podcasts, all the way to the Content ID, thanks to which you also make money when others use your music.

At the moment, short videos are probably the best tool to generate reach. However, they’re less suitable for making actual profit. That’s why many of the creators don’t earn their money on these platforms themselves. Proper monetization has so far been missing from TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. But now, YouTube has decided to take the lead, sharing their ad revenues with creators starting in the coming year.

Earning money through the YouTube Partner Program

What we currently know is that Shorts will become a part of the YouTube Partner Program in 2023. Additionally, YouTube has communicated that the split will be 55/45, as is the norm. However, with Shorts, the creators will not be receiving the usual 55% but instead only the 45%. These are taken from the generated ad revenues after the rights owners have been paid. So, as a musician, you can make money in two ways, as a rights owner of the used music and through the reach generated with the Shorts.

The criteria

Since YouTube Shorts obviously won’t be putting an ad before every single video, the payout follows a pro-rata system that works similarly to the one used by the streaming services. However, how exactly these ad revenues are distributed has not yet been communicated.

But it wouldn’t be YouTube if everyone was able to profit here. Of course, there are some numbers that you have to reach, and YouTube is pretty clear on them: 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Short views in the last 90 days. Only then can you profit from the benefits the YouTube Partner Program offers. But despite these restrictions, this is still an important step, and we can only hope that the competition will soon follow suit.

YouTube is catching up to Spotify

As we have often mentioned before, YouTube wants to become the number one income generator for the music industry. Between July 2021 and June 2022, YouTube paid 6 billion dollars to the music industry. In the 12 months prior, it was 4 billion, so we’re talking about a growth of 50%. For 2021, Spotify reported payouts in the amount of 7 billion dollars and a growth of 40% compared to 2020. Even though the two big players use different accounting periods, it’s clear that YouTube is inching closer to Spotify, one step at a time. Another important factor for the payouts is the UGC (User-Generated-Content), which is based on the Content ID. This makes up 30% of the 6 billion we mentioned.

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.

In the music world at the moment, everything seems to be revolving around TikTok. Because of this reality, some labels go as far as refusing to release songs that have not gone viral yet. Of course, there are many reasons why you should focus on TikTok. But in the midst of the big hype, you shouldn’t forget to think outside the box from time to time, as TikTok is by no means the only platform that can get you enormous reach. To put in in more concrete terms, this is possible with YouTube, and specifically with YouTube Shorts, as well.

Shorts: Successful TikTok copy

YouTube Shorts is obviously a straight-up TikTok clone, as the biggest video platform, too, is feeling the pressure from TikTok. Since July 2021, Shorts are available everywhere you can access YouTube, and on the occasion of this anniversary, YouTube has shared some of their statistics. These show that the clone has definitely worked. Shorts have generated 30 billion views everyday and 1.5 billion logged-in users are watching Shorts every month. That is 75% of their 2 billion users.

Positive impact on watchtime and subscribers

But almost even more important than these impressive statistics are the following facts: According to YouTube, creators who post Shorts as well as longer videos profit from longer watch time and stronger subscriber growth than those who only post longer videos. So really, this means that Shorts have a positive impact on the number of views of the longer uploads, as well.

YouTube states that they not only want to be the biggest source of income for the music industry but also the place where the connection between the artist and the fans can be strengthened. Shorts are thus supposed to be a gateway leading fans to music videos, interviews, or livestreams. YouTube’s goal is for the discovery of music on YouTube to directly lead to ticket and merch sales and to help with building a fanbase. Pretty lofty goals for sure, and Shorts are clearly meant to play an important role in achieving them.

Shorts as part of the strategy

As we have often mentioned before, you shouldn’t just view YouTube as a place to store your music videos. Instead, try to use all possible features the platform provides. Part of this would be coming up with a strategy consisting of the right combination between Shorts and longer videos. However, you should of course always think about whether or not you have the capacity to post on TikTok, Instagram, and now Shorts on top of it all. Because posting the exact same content everywhere is not gonna get you anywhere. You need a different strategy for each platform.

More features on the way

Sooner or later, YouTube will introduce other tools meant to offer additional sources of income for artists. YouTube is planning a Live Shopping feature and will also integrate NFTs into the platform, though the format remains to be seen. Shorts, too, will receive new features in the shopping area, as well as tipping features such as Super Chat.

Ideally, a music video is a work of art in itself. But of course, videos are mainly there to create hype around a release and to generate more streams and sales. Due to the enormous amount of videos on YouTube, however, it can quickly happen that a video gets lost. Therefore you can be glad to use any tool that helps to increase the hype around a video. One such tool is YouTube Premieres.

Initially, this feature was only available to selected creators with a wide reach, but since a few months everyone can set up premieres for their videos.

Meanwhile more and more musicians are using this tool – but many more don’t know about this possibility yet. We have collected everything worth knowing for you.

How does YouTube Premieres work?

With YouTube Premiere you can generate a landing page on which the premiere of your video will take place on the defined date. YouTube sees it that the artist and his community come together as if they were at the cinema together: It’s as if a creator’s entire community is in one theater together watching their latest upload.”

As with a live stream, viewers see the clip in the subscription box (if they follow you) and can set up a reminder. If they have set the reminder, they will also be reminded again 30 minutes before the clip’s premiere. Another reminder is set when the countdown starts 2 minutes before the premiere.

In addition, users can chat with each other before and during the premiere, giving artists the opportunity to obtain direct feedback. Two minutes before the premiere, the countdown starts and as soon as the premiere is over, the video is available as usual (the URL remains the same!)

And this is how you set up your premiere (setting up the premiere only works on the computer, but of course it can be watched on all devices)

• Upload a video and select “Scheduled” from the drop-down menu.
• Activate the premiere and define on which day and at what time it should take place. If you don’t want the landing page to be visible from now on, you can also define when it should be activated.
• As soon as the upload is finished, click on Premiere on the top right

During the premiere the users can rewind but not forward. So all users are exactly on the same level. Before and during the premiere they can exchange information in the live chat and, if available, via Super Chat.

All views of the premiere are then transferred to the video. The comments made during the premiere also remain on the video. So nothing is lost with the Premieres function. You can find more detailed information on setting up a premiere in the video below and here.

What are the benefits of YouTube Premiere?

Thanks to the landing page generated by YouTube, you can promote the video or its premiere from the moment you upload it and not only when the clip has actually been released. So the goal should be to generate hype and to increase the anticipation. Therefore share the link to the landing page on all channels, with a newsletter etc.

Ideally, you also get more subscribers, because they absolutely want to be reminded about the next premiere, which is much easier as a follower.

Finally, the chat is another means to get in direct contact with the fan community. So be sure to arrange the premiere in a way that you actually have time and can get in contact with the other viewers!

Can YouTube Premieres be monetised?

Yes, and this brings us straight to another advantage. According to YouTube, this was even one of the main reasons for this feature: The creators of the videos should have additional revenue streams thanks to premieres.

There are several ways to monetize, but unfortunately, as so often on YouTube, not all of them are available for every user.

Ads: If you have monetized your channel, you can add pre-roll ads during the premiere. Mid-roll ads are not possible during the premiere, but as soon as the premiere is complete, they will be.

Great chat: If you have Super Chat enabled, your viewers can pay to have their chat messages highlighted. Super Chat was previously only available for live streams and can be used for “normal” videos thanks to YouTube Premieres.

Channel Membership: If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can enjoy the benefits of channel membership, such as live chat only for members, custom emojis and logos for loyal fans.

Now you have all the information you need to start building up additional hype for your next video. But of course you should think carefully about which videos you want to use the premiere feature for. For a two-minute video from the studio probably not. For your ambitious music clip – absolutely! A recording of you drunkenly fooling around backstage? I don’t think so. A professional documentary about your last tour – totally!

Do you have any questions about YouTube Premieres?

Then contact our support at [email protected] or write us in the chat.

YouTube Premiere can help you build anticipation for your music video and also generate additional views. Now there are some handy updates that make the tool even more attractive.

We recently introduced you to the advantages of YouTube Premiere in a post. A feature that is used more and more, especially since Corona.

Now YouTube has added some updates that should additionally help to generate as much hype as possible around your music video. We present these to you.

Livestream as pre-show

It is now possible to go live before the set up premiere of your video clip. As soon as the livestream ends, viewers will be redirected directly to the video premiere. With the livestream, you can not only further fuel the anticipation, but also reveal some details or background info about the clip or song, for example.

It is also possible for viewers to be redirected to a livestream after the premiere.

Trailer

Trailers are another tool to further build anticipation. These are displayed on the premiere’s landing page. Videos must be between 15 seconds and three minutes long.

To be able to use the Livestream pre-show function as well as trailers, you currently still need to have at least 1,000 subscribers.

Themes

Soon it will also be possible to select the countdown before the video. There will be different options available, so you can insert exactly the countdown that fits the vibe of the video.

More information can be found here.

Discovering products on social media or on streaming services and then purchasing them without much hassle is increasingly becoming the standard these days. YouTube, too, wants to give their creators more shopping opportunities and is therefore collaborating, as TikTok and Spotify has recently done before, with e-commerce giant Shopify. This is obviously opening new opportunities for musicians, as well.

Directly integrate products

With this collaboration, creators now have the option to connect their Shopify store with their YouTube channel and integrate products under their videos, during livestreams, or at the end of their videos.

However, as is pretty much always the case on YouTube, not everyone has access to the feature. However, musicians don’t need a minimum number of subscribers as long as they have an official artist channel, which we recommend in general.

More shopping features on the way

Additionally, YouTube is testing a separate shopping section in the “Discover” tab, although for the present, only in the US, Brazil, and India. However, it is set to have additional markets added within the year.

The plan seems to be to expand these shopping features further for longer videos, livestreams, as well as the popular Shorts.

Ad revenue increase less than expected

YouTube has additionally released the ad revenues of the 2^nd quarter of 2022. These reached 7.34 billion dollars, a growth of 4.8% compared to the previous year. However, they are still well under the 7% growth that analysts projected, which also means the lowest growth rate in two years. What portion of that will go towards the music industry is yet to be known.

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.

If you want to monetize your videos or your music in general on YouTube, it can lead to copyright disputes. The new YouTube Checks tool was created to avoid this problem in the future by allowing users to check prior to the upload already whether a copyright dispute might arise.

How do copyright disputes arise?

Disputes usually come about due to following reasons:

• The song is already being monetized by another distributor/label. This might be the case if you switch to a different distributor and your previous one hasn’t terminated the monetization.
• You purchased or leased a beat on the internet and don’t own the exclusive rights to them. In this case, your song cannot be monetized via your Content ID.
• You used a sample which was recognized by YouTube.

Check your video before publishing

If you put up a video through YouTube Studio, you can use YouTube Checks to review whether there are any copyright infringements on hand and whether the video might even get removed. Additionally, the status of the Content ID will also be visible, which shows if the video is or is not eligible for monetization or if it is only partially so. It shows in detail which part of the video is affected, what exactly is being claimed, and what consequences the upload might bring.

However, YouTube also points out that their check is not a 100% guarantee that disputes might not still arise at a later time.

We recommend using this tool especially if you purchased a beat online and aren’t entirely sure what rights you have to it.

Monetize your music on YouTube

If you own all the rights to the music, you can monetize it on YouTube. iGroove offers YouTube monetization so that you can also make money when someone else uploads your music on YouTube. Remember, though: If you set up the monetization before you use YouTube Checks, you will see a copyright claim, because iGroove has already monetized your music in your name. More info can be found here.

YouTube has recently announced that they have paid over 4 billion dollars to the music industry in the past 12 months. For comparison: In 2020, Spotify paid their artists, labels, and distributors around 5 billion dollars. So, while many speak of a two-horse race between Spotify and Apple Music, YouTube is getting on the fast lane, determined to become the leading revenue generator for the music industry.

Content ID as an important source of revenue – but not only

YouTube pays out revenues from all kinds of different sources. These include the subscription revenues from YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, ad-based revenues such as Art Tracks, as well as the revenues from User-Generated-Content (UGC), which are managed via Content ID. UGCs make up 30% of the payouts, which is 1.2 billion to be concrete. Up until recently, this share used to be as high as 50%, which really goes to show a strong increase in paying users.

What also contributed to these 4 billion are the payouts to the copyright collectives as well as the offers in which the fan pays the artist directly, e.g., through the purchase of merch, memberships, or tickets for virtual events. With the combination of video and audio, YouTube is significantly more versatile in this regard than many of their competitors.

YouTube Music grows faster than the competition

They further announced that YouTube Music is the fastest growing streaming provider at the moment. In the first quarter of 2021, more new users signed up for the service than ever before. However, they did not mention any specific numbers, and thus, the most recent data we have is from October 2020, when YouTube had more than 30 million subscribers on YouTube Music and YouTube Premium (which includes YouTube Music). For comparison: Spotify has 158 million paying users.

YouTube is often criticised for paying less for both subscription and ad-based streams than Spotify does. Since in 2020 YouTube raked in 19.78 billion through advertisements alone, you might truly wonder whether the payouts should not be significantly higher. The newest numbers, however, clearly underscore that YouTube is a player that the music industry cannot ignore.

With iGroove you can make your music available both to users on YouTube Music and in the form of an Art Track, as well as monetize your songs via the Content ID.

Livestreaming has enjoyed increased popularity for a number of years and has received another huge boost from the quarantine. One of the most important livestreaming platforms is Twitch, which was bought up by Amazon in 2014.

From now on, it is now possible to add your Twitch videos directly to your Amazon Music profile. Thus, it is the first time that livestreaming is directly integrated with a music streaming service.

The prerequisite is that you have verified your profile via Amazon Music for Artists. Now you can simply add your Twitch channel via Amazon Music for Artists under “Profiles & Tools”.

Now when you go live on Twitch, the video will automatically show up on your Amazon Music profile as well. Also, anything you post on Twitch will automatically be added to your Amazon Music profile.

If you’re a musician using both Twitch and Amazon Music, this new feature brings some benefits:

• All your followers, fans, and superfans on Amazon Music will automatically receive a push notification when you go live on Twitch.
• The active livestreams are visible on the artist profile and in the live category of the search box.
• The Twitch dashboard now lists how many of the viewers came through Amazon Music.

Twitch is much more than a temporary replacement for canceled concerts, but another important tool to connect with his fans. In addition, it also gives you the opportunity to monetize your livestreams through subscriptions and donations from viewers. If you already use Twitch, you should now immediately couple it with Amazon Music to reach more fans.

As a musician, music is often the only thing on your mind. Consequently, the focus of your social media posts will be your music also – especially since you’re using those platforms to reach more potential listeners. But precisely for this reason that we utilize social media as a marketing tool, it might be good to follow some marketing principles, as well. One of them is not to fixate on just one topic.

Define topics and strategy

This means that you must have a clear definition of your brand, which is who you are as an artist. In many areas, social media requires a strategy and a clear position. The fans should be able to identify themselves with you and this usually happens beyond the scope of just music. That’s why you should consider how you want to present yourself as an artist to the public and think about some topics that could be of interest to both you and your fans 

If you’re only ever talking about your music and are thus essentially always trying to sell your product, it gives off a very one-dimensional and self-centered impression. People aren’t just interested in your music but also in the person behind it and why you are making this music. But, of course, you also shouldn’t just ramble on about a bunch of random topics. If you’re talking about music one day, and the next day you’re discussing the military coup in Myanmar, and the day after that the subject is cars, it will seem like you don’t have a concept.

3-5 topics for your strategy

Experts recommend choosing 3-5 topics. The obvious one is music-related themes, such as new releases, music videos, and behind-the-scenes material, as well as the promotion of merch, concerts or livestreams. On top of that, you should consider 2 or 3 additional topics that you are knowledgeable in, that you have passion for, and that you want to speak about in public.

One person might be comfortable sharing their private life, the other is involved in local politics, and the third loves to talk about soccer or their pet. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to keep discussing the same topics year after year. On the contrary, every once in a while, you should re-evaluate whether these are still the right ones for you. After all, everybody’s interests will always evolve, so you should keep re-inventing your content accordingly.

The focus changes continuously

Likewise, you’ll need to constantly reorganize your prioritization. When there’s a new release coming up, you’ll naturally post more about the music. When there isn’t, other topics can come to the fore. If possible, you might also want to slightly shift the thematic focus depending on the platform.

Knowing the core topics also helps you develop concrete marketing strategies for an upcoming release and identify which resources you’ll need to promote it.