We all know video is the big papa of all content. YouTube is a great mainstream video platform, even though Vimeo is great too. For years, YouTube has been the go-to place for content creators and musicians to upload their videos. Here are a few things you should do if you’re a musician to make YouTube work for you!
Niche in the Niche
Although you may be interested in music as your niche, you may want to consider identifying a particular genre or style that appeals to you. Covering popular songs (unless you are really mesmerizing and have made it already) is going to be a challenge to crack the youtube algorithm. The following statistics may help put things into perspective.
– YouTube is the world’s second-most visited website
– 694,000 hours of video are streamed on YouTube each minute
– Music is incredibly popular on YouTube
– YouTube Shorts receive 15 billion daily views
– YouTube ads have the potential to reach 2.56 billion users
These are just a few stats that often make you think! How does this change the way you approach your current YouTube channel strategy?
Create content that resonates with you; it will be unique
If you don’t want to go through the titles about what to make and how to make, think about titles that are unique to you, that you have not yet checked on YouTube that you would like answers to. There might be a how-to video; there might be a music video. Perhaps it’s your reaction to another song. You can choose anything you want. You can create unique titles in a jiffy in music. It makes sense if you think about it.
Analyse what’s trending
There are constant changes in your music industry, the music, the sound, everything. An audience’s retention of a particular genre or sound is also temporary. In 2014, dubstep, for example, became popular. There is a limited number of people who still listen to dubstep today. The same applies to artists who release new sounds that immediately take off. At the same time, if their songs aren’t evergreen, they may fall back. They benefit from that, though. Is there any harm in climbing up the ladder with what’s trending? Take a look at what’s trending and figure out what your plus points or strengths are in your music skills and highlight them a little more. As an example, if you are an excellent harmonizer, you can create good harmonies. By doing so, you’ll be sure to find an audience that appreciates your skills.
Moderately stalk your competitor’s content
When you’re making content and you’re running out of ideas, how and what, what kind of title, and what kind of video are you going to upload next. Occasionally, you want to check out what your competitors are doing on their YouTube channel. Even though knowing what your competitors are doing can be somewhat analytically enlightening, do not start researching your competitors 24/7. Identify your own journey and stick to it. Adapt to market trends, but don’t overstock others that will leave you with little time to work on your own channel.
Focus on your originals
If you’re not focusing on your originals in 2023, you’re already losing out on the game. The people who create the brand by making their signature sound accessible to the audience are actually the ones who leave a mark on the minds of their fans. Unless you’re as big and got enough popularity like boyce avenue & others doing covers, you should avoid creating just cover songs. Your originals have value, not just in streaming revenue, but also in placements, sync licensing and so on! Be original!
If you want to cover a song, cover what’s trending!
Making a song that is trending will increase your chances of appearing higher on YouTube’s list or search. Once you decide what kind of cover song you are going to do, maybe you can add harmonies here and there that weren’t present in the original song if you make an original, alternate or improvised cover song. There is a possibility that you will stand out more! But if you do a cover of an old popular song, make it really stand out! While cover journey is competitive, you can still make a mark by enhancing the original piece of music with your knowledge and skills.
In 2023, what are your top tips for musicians starting out on YouTube? Is it too late? Do you think one can still shine through considering the amount of music views on YouTube? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!