Growing your audience
Build your fanbase and get more fans to listen to your music, watch music videos and create with your songs.
Why YouTube?
YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform – it's a community of billions of music fans where you can engage and create a direct relationship with your audience.
Meet fans where they are listening
With over 2 billion logged-in viewers watching music videos on YouTube every month, YouTube allows more opportunities and ways for fans to find and listen to your music.
Showcase your music to listeners around the world
YouTube lets you tap into a global audience, giving you the opportunity to expand your fanbase beyond geographical and even language barriers.
Build a community
Engage with your fans on a personal level, turning casual listeners into dedicated fans. A strong community can offer support, feedback and promotion, helping to sustain your career over the long term.
Tailoring your content strategy
Listener → Fan
Understanding the journey people take from being merely a
listener to
becoming a fan can help you to tailor your content strategy.
How do we
attract them at each part of their fan journey?
1
Attract: Gain attention through big releases, short-form trends and collaborations.
2
Engage: Turn casual audiences into regular listeners by providing consistent content alongside music videos.
3
Convert: Build community and faithful fans through authentic interactions and personal storytelling.
4
Retain: Keep fans engaged and coming back with a continued strategy.
Best practices referenced in this guide are merely tips and do not represent a guarantee for success on the YouTube platform or beyond. Your channel and videos can be considered an extension of your artistry, so you should continue to represent yourself authentically on YouTube.
Attract: Attracting new listeners
For new releases, consider creating a variety of content, from teasers to lyric videos to music videos and behind-the-scenes footage, uploaded over a number of days or even weeks.
This cadence of continued uploads around a release can build anticipation for new content, create more pathways for new viewers to discover your music and give your fans something to talk about.
From a random sampling, fans who saw a given music video consumed 94% more of that artist's music in the following month compared to fans who didn't see the music video
Work with other creators, artists or fans. Collaborations can create algorithmic ties while exposing you to new audiences. Collabs can range from featuring another artist in your video, being a guest on another creator's channel or creating a joint project or song.
Teddy Swims made an appearance in Emilio Piano's public shopping centre session.
Crash Adams invited other artists in public to try freestyling on their song.
Collaborate with international artists and create localised content to reach audiences outside your home country. Consider adding subtitles in different languages or creating alternative versions of your popular songs to cater to diverse audiences.
South Korean artist Sunmi did a lightweight collaboration through Shorts with British trio New Hope Club where they danced to her song 'Heart Burn'.
imase released two alternative versions of his hit single 'Night Dancer' in English and Korean, alongside a compilation album of all remixes on YouTube Music.
1. Stay active
Post consistently to keep your channel active. It doesn't always have to be expensive, high-production videos. Consistent content keeps viewers engaged, encourages them to return to your channel and can help grow important metrics like watch time. Bear in mind that being consistent doesn't mean posting every day.
We recommend that you focus on quality content uploaded in a regular cadence rather than just pumping out a high number of uploads in a small time frame.
- Diversify your content
Beyond official music videos, consider creating content that showcases your personality and creativity. This could be Q&A sessions, covers, challenges or even day-in-the-life videos. This variety keeps your channel interesting and provides multiple entry points and a supply of content for different types of fans.
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend created a series called 'Vampire
Campfire' consisting of podcast-style videos in
which they discuss their new album and more.
GReeeN
GReeeN leans into vlogs and personality-driven
collabs with YouTubers alongside his music
videos.
The Macarons Project
The Macarons Project lean in to short covers of
trending songs in
their own style. By choosing scenic locations
with relaxing ambient
sounds, they transform simple covers into their
own relaxing series.
Participate in popular trends, both on and off YouTube. These trends can have far-reaching appeal, exposing you to new audiences. This could be making your own Shorts or videos, engaging with UGC content or even participating in trends related to other artists.
Use the Inspiration tab in YouTube Analytics to better understand what audiences are searching for and watching.
Fans discovered a song on Shorts and then consumed it on long-form video over 700 million times within a week.1
Singer Jax uses audio from her songs to create content around a comedic and repeatable 'POV' trend that can have appeal beyond her core audience.
Jordan Adetunji's 'KEHÉANI' became popular in short-form content. To meet demand, Jordan launched two new versions of the song on his channel (one slowed down and one sped up) for fans to create and engage with.
- Create authentic content
Show your genuine self in your music and videos. Authenticity resonates with viewers and sets you apart. Share personal stories, behind-the-scenes footage or your creative process to create a deeper connection with your audience.
Chappell Roan posted a clip from her concert where she shared candidly with her audience why she wrote a particular song and the feelings that accompany it.
Engage with viewers by replying to comments, pinning noteworthy comments, hearting comments or even making playlists to highlight your favourite fan content. This makes your audience feel valued and encourages more interaction.
Artist Blondshell pinned a fan comment on their most recent collaboration
Use features like
Green Screen
to react to fans' Shorts or
create Shorts video responses using
video comment replies.
This shows that you're an active part of the community and
encourages more engagement.
Take this a step further and encourage your audience to Green Screen your own content and feature that in fan playlists.
JVKE made use of Green Screen to react to a cover of his song 'Golden Hour'
Retain: Keep fans coming back
Plan for the 'off-season'
Remember that consistency is key and, in a perfect world, you'll want to keep up some level of engagement with your channel even during lulls in your release cycle. If needed, create a scaled-back strategy that still allows you to put out lightweight forms of content less frequently as a way to keep feeding your fans and keep your channel fresh.
Also be aware that trends can occur at any point in a song's release cycle – even if it's months or sometimes years after the release. Keep an eye on your analytics and be prepared to support a resurgence of activity around your catalogue content.
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