How To Start A YouTube Music Channel And Make Money Immediately!
So you have decided you want to put your music out there? YouTube is a very very good platform for musicians, after all it is the second highest search engine in the world after google.
But, where do you start? Do you need an expensive camera? No. Do you need expensive recording equipment? No. Do you need high quality studio recordings? No. All you really need to get started is your smart phone and your talent.
If you look at one of my early videos, I covered Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’. All I used was my iPhone which sat upon my opened laptop and I used the laptop screen to tilt the phone camera to the angle I needed. Nothing technical, just a phone and that is it. I edited the video on my phone (by editing I mean cut the start and the end of the video to only include the performance) and then I uploaded. That video has generated over 300,000 views and it was all done with a phone. Not a computer, expensive camera or extravagant recording equipment to be seen.
So getting your music out there to the world is one thing. I mean, YouTube is a big place with lots of videos, but how do you get people to click on your video instead of the next one? This is where SEO comes in. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and there are loads of videos and blog articles explaining how to optimise your videos to get views. It is quiet interesting to delve into the algorithm but there is an easier way. I have been using TubeBuddy for quiet some time and this has really helped me with making sure all my uploads are fully optimised. I recommend that you check it out after watching a couple of videos on ‘YouTube SEO’ and see how helpful it really is.
Now, you have your video ready to go and you have optimised it using TubeBuddy, this is great! There is only one problem…. How can you make a bit of coin?
The current requirements for monetisation on YouTube are 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. In all honesty, it can take a bit of time to achieve this but once you do you can then start to gain Ad revenue from YouTube.
Fortunately this isn’t the only way to make some extra money for all the hard work you have done to make your video.
The first thing is affiliate marketing.
If you have ever watched a video and someone has suggested a product and referred you to a link in there description, then you have witnessed affiliate marketing. By signing up to an affiliate marketing program such as Amazon, you can create links in your description to the gear you use in the video and if people click on that link and purchase that product you will get a commission. If you look at my videos you will see a pop up directing people to the description to see what gear I use. After all, I wouldn’t want to stop halfway through a performance to recommend something.
The second thing is Merchandise.
Once you hit 10,000 subscribers the kind folk at YouTube will allow you to add a Merch Shelf to your channel. This appears under your videos and people can then click on the piece of merchandise and be redirected to your Merch store. Now you are probably thinking ‘10,000 subscribers is a lot’ and yes it is, but if you are consistent with your channel it won’t be long before you get there. In the meantime, you can add a link to your store in your description. I highly recommend using a print on demand service such as Spring so that you don’t have any overheads or a house full of Merch that you need to get rid of. The beauty of Print On Demand is that most will allow you to sell digital products too ie. Album downloads, wallpaper designs, stickers, posters, the sky is the limit.
So now you have some affiliate links and links to your Merch in your description but there are a couple more things we can do. If you have released an album or two onto streaming services, these links need to go in your description too. You are trying to drive people to not only watch your videos, but to also listen to your music and keep coming back to listen. So for me this is a no brainer.
Last but not least is the good old fashioned tip jar. When you busk in the street you will no doubt have an open guitar case or a hat for people to throw a few bucks in if they like what they hear so why not do the same digitally? If you have a look at my videos I have a PayPal.me link that links directly to my PayPal account. I have found that this is not only a great way for people to show appreciation for what you are doing, but also a great way for you to sit back and say ‘people are really digging what I am doing!’.
So these are a few ways to help you to continue to create without having to wait to be part of the YouTube partner program and get your music out there and seen. There is one final step though, and that is to gather all these links an update them in your ‘Upload Defaults’ which can be found in your YouTube Studio settings. That way, every time you upload a new video all the links will automatically be pre-filled in the videos description.
One final note, the key to making this work is consistency. I would recommend creating a manageable upload schedule, whether it be to upload a few times a week, once a week or once a fortnight, as long as it is manageable. Remember, you can always increase your upload rate but it is harder to drop it back, especially once you start to get an audience that has expectations.
