How to make money on Youtube?

As we all know, YouTube is a moneymaker for many artists... French YouTuber Squeezie for example earns an estimated 50,000 euros every month on the platform alone. Of course, Squeezie isn't a singer (although, sometimes...), but the good news is that artists too can make a bit of extra money thanks to the streaming video platform!

So how do you make money on YouTube as an independent artist? Let's find out in this article!

1) CREATE YOUR OWN YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The first step to making money on YouTube is, of course, to create your own channel! For your username, take your artist or band name, checking first that it's not already taken. Then choose a nice profile picture and a banner to get a qualitative and professional result. Your YouTube channel page needs to be complete and well presented: it's a bit like a store window, it needs to make visitors want to stop in and immerse them in your universe!

2) OPTIMIZE YOUR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION AND PUBLISH YOUR FIRST VIDEOS

To ensure that your videos are promoted by the platform, work on your SEO. This means inserting keywords that users are looking for in your songs, descriptions and tags. If you're making a song per day as a video for example, the title should contain the very concept of your video, such as "I'm making a song per day". If you're giving your opinion on musical works, it could be "My reaction to the latest Miley Cyrus album".

Once that's done, you can publish your first videos.

Make a point of offering original content that stands out from other creators, because on YouTube, the competition is very tough. But the good thing about this competition is that you can also use it as inspiration to create your own concept! For example, you could create video challenges to make music in a set timeframe, as producer, singer and rapper Le Motif has done. Or you could make original covers in a different language than the original, as artist Bianca Costa did during the covid period. These are just two ideas, but the possibilities are endless on YouTube, and you're the one who sets your own limits!

Source : YouTube

We also recommend that you publish regularly, once a week for example, while always giving priority to the quality of your videos and their content. Better to publish nothing than to publish something poorly crafted! It's also best to adapt the frequency of publication according to your statistics and free time. In particular, if you find that your videos have high audience retention (i.e. they're watched to the end by viewers) and high demand, this may be a sign that you need to publish more often! 

Also, apart from the covers and original songs you post on the platform, try to produce videos that are long enough (minimum 6 minutes), to be featured prominently on YouTube. That's right, YouTube would rather promote longer videos, on which they'll be able to insert more advertising spots, and which will therefore bring in more money.

Think about promoting your videos too. This can be done through your social networks and the social networks of people who know you, but that's not all! You can also recommend your other videos at the end of each one. Yes, we know, that's a lot of "videos", but look, here's a concrete example to illustrate:

Source : YouTube (chaîne du Motif)

This will enable you to maintain your audience on your channel and watch your other videos. It's a bit like when Netflix offers you a similar series after you've just finished yours. It's the same idea!

3) MONETIZATION

Once you've taken all these steps, you can start to qualify for monetization, i.e. to activate payment for the creation of videos on your YouTube channel. To activate, you need to meet the following criteria:

1. You're 18 years old.
2. Your videos accumulate 10,000 views.
3. You have at least 1,000 subscribers.
4. You have logged 4,000 viewing hours in the last 12 months.

Once you meet these criteria, you can click on Youtube studio > Other features > Monetization.

P.S: The good news is that you can monetize older videos if you meet the above criteria.

4) DIFFERENT SOURCES OF REMUNERATION

a) ADVERTISEMENTS

The first way to make money on YouTube is to activate ads at the beginning of your videos. Just like on TV, before YouTube users can access your content, they'll see one or more ads before and during your content. In exchange for enabling a brand to be promoted via your video, you'll receive a share of the revenue generated every time someone watches it. To activate ads, follow these steps:

1. Connect to YouTube.
2. Go to YouTube Studio.
3. Click on "Content" in the left-hand menu.
4. Select the videos you wish to monetize.
5. Click on "Revenue" in the left-hand menu.

Here you can choose the type of ads you want to appear at the beginning of your videos. All that's left to do is click on "Save" to activate the ads.

And don't worry about those who pay YouTube Premium not to see ads! You'll still be remunerated as a content creator, via a share of the cost of their subscription.

b) YouTube Music

Depending on the distributor you choose, it's sometimes possible to make your music available for download on YouTube Music. When a user listens to your music via this platform, you also earn revenue. Imusician is one of those who offer this option. And it's just the thing, because we have a partnership that allows you to earn 10% on your first pack purchased using the code IMD-HEDAYAT. One more way to generate income via YouTube! Isn't that great?

c) YouTube Shopping

On YouTube, you can also feature your items for sale. In your case, this could be pre-orders, CDs or any other kind of album promotion goodies, for example! To activate this option:

1. Go to YouTube Studio
2. Select "Monetization" from the left-hand menu.
3. Click on "Merchandise", then "Start".
4. Select "Merchbar" and click "Continue".

d) Subscription

e) Content ID

f) Super Chats/Stickers

g) sponsered videos