Marc Brown: <\/strong>Ok, Corbyn, what do you think about timelines? How would you layer YouTube into the usual timeline?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn Asbury: <\/strong>Ideally, you\u2019d want to drop the music video at the same time as the song drops. That\u2019ll give you the most views in the first 24 hours, which will feed into the algorithm. The most important thing you can do is to lean into the algorithm and give it signals that you\u2019re doing well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following that, it\u2019s about tempo moments. The music video will be the prominent peak, but you don\u2019t want things to drop off afterwards. So keep feeding the algorithm content, whether that\u2019s a lyric video, a tour diary, or a BTS (behind the scenes). That stuff will lead viewers back to your channel and music video. You can make that happen with things like links in the descriptions or end cards at the end of the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>I see! So basically, if you want to treat YouTube like any other platform, it\u2019s equally as important. This is an excellent time to discuss the shoulder content you mentioned. So let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got your video. What else should you do to push that video or maybe your upcoming single or album tracks over the next few months? What kind of assets do you need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>I think a lot of the time, artists create assets for socials and then don\u2019t think to put them on YouTube as well. The great thing about YouTube is that you can create shelves, and you can separate things by theme. This way you can have a shelf about your tour and then a separate shelf with your lyric videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have an official artist channel, you have a thing called a community, and on that, you can do polls and put static images. Music videos are expensive, so you\u2019re probably only able to do one every few months. For those other weeks in the campaign, using things like the community tab is a great way to keep engaging people and keep your channel top of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other thing I want to mention is Youtube shorts (info<\/a>)<\/em>, our current focus. They\u2019re up to 60 seconds, and we\u2019ve seen that short-form content is a huge driver of audio consumption, particularly for Gen Z. The USP (unique selling proposition) that we have on YouTube compared to other platforms, it can be a huge ask to have someone listen to a song, then leave and have to remember the lyrics and go to Google and type them in and find out what the song is and then go to their streaming platform to listen to it. Long journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Shorts, it is within two taps of watching that video and liking the song, and you\u2019re watching the official music video. It\u2019s that kind of end-to-end service we hope will be completely game-changing for the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>If you have high activity on your channel, does that affect the recommendation algorithm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Yeah, so for uploading on youtube.com, I don\u2019t recommend posting videos on the same day because then the algorithm has to favour one over the other. Ideally, it would be best if you spaced them at least two days apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But simultaneously, the more content you give to the platform, the more the algorithm will trial what works and what doesn\u2019t. The algorithm will start understanding your audience and tailoring which videos get shown to whom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>Makes sense. So, we have some audience questions. The first person wants to know if all of YouTube\u2019s playlists are algorithmic or if actual people create some of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Both. We call it al-gi-torial. So some are algorithmic – particularly ones that are based on what you\u2019ve listened to previously. And then there are some that a team curates, but the order of the tracks is algorithmic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>Is it possible to submit things for playlists on YouTube?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>Ok, great! Another question: What opportunities does YouTube provide to independent artists and labels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you already answer that? You said everyone gets everything – you don\u2019t favour one company over another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>No, we certainly don\u2019t. If anything, we make a conscious effort to serve the indie community and ensure they have the tools to succeed. Last year, we paid more to the indie community than to major record labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of programs, we have programs like the Foundry Fund<\/a>, which is a handful of artists that we give financial support to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also work with companies like MMF (Music Managers Forum)<\/a>, and we have an accelerated program where we fund a select number of independent managers to partake in a 12-month program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside of the financial help, we also do education, so it\u2019s almost like a school, and we teach them every element of the music industry so that they can become better managers. And then we have programs like Higher Up, which focuses on the Black community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>That\u2019s great. Thank you for going through all of those. The next question, from someone who works at a label, is asking if an artist can get an Official Artist Channel without going through a distributor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>I was talking about that before. But it doesn\u2019t automatically happen, you\u2019ll have the channel that you own, and you need to request it manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>So, can you get one without going via a distributor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>No, you need to go through a distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>Next, can an artist edit the background of the VEVO music on YouTube without a distributor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Well, it depends if you mean edit the actual video after you\u2019ve uploaded it or if you mean adding metadata and titles and descriptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>So you can\u2019t edit the video, but you can edit the metadata<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Yes, correct. Once a video is uploaded, it\u2019s uploaded, and if you\u2019re not happy with it, you have to re-upload it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>Someone is saying that it\u2019s a pain that you need 1,000 subscribers for the partner program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>To go into a YouTube partner program which is where you get revenue from ads, you need 1,000 subscribers and 300 watch time hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc:<\/strong> Question: How can an independent, non-performing songwriter get more subscribers to get new music to appeal to labels and other artists? That\u2019s an interesting question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how does an artist generate music discovery on YouTube versus other platforms? Is there anything different about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>There are two ways to look at it. One way is to lean into trends and see what\u2019s popular on the platform and generate content like that, even if it\u2019s not necessarily music, Music makes up a relatively small percentage of watch time on YouTube, a lot of it is gamers or sports. If there\u2019s a way for your channel to play in those spheres, then you should do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other way is YouTube shorts. It will tell you what tracks are trending. You can also go to youtube.com\/trending<\/a>, and it\u2019ll tell you what\u2019s trending for your market, and you can do covers of those songs to generate more views. Or, if you don\u2019t want to do a whole 3 or 4-minute thing, then you can go to YouTube shorts and do it there in 30-second clips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marc: <\/strong>That\u2019s great. I think that\u2019s something everybody struggles with when they\u2019re starting out, not knowing how to build an audience. Some of those ideas are great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn: <\/strong>Make sure to tag your videos with hashtags, make your metadata accurate<\/a>, put links to your social media platforms, and have a link to subscribe at the end of the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, have the right thumbnail – don\u2019t choose a clickbait thumbnail because if you do that, you\u2019ll get some great views initially, but people will bounce out quickly, and then the algorithm will de-prioritize that video on that channel because people aren\u2019t staying to engage with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, make sure to have correct descriptions. If it\u2019s an official music video, make sure that people know that it\u2019s the official video. Otherwise, as a viewer, people won\u2019t know that this is a premium piece of content. That\u2019s a simple thing that everyone forgets to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Corbyn](\"https:\/\/byta.com\/howwelisten\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/corbyn-3.png\")
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