📑 Sections (7)

3. YouTube and YouTube Music

Official Artist Channel, how your music reaches YouTube Music, Content ID, the Partner Program and the requirements changing in 2027.

YouTube has two paths worth keeping apart: the music your distributor delivers, and the videos you upload to your own channel.

Two paths

  • Through the distributor: your song appears on YouTube Music and as a video with static cover art. It generates recording royalties.
  • Your channel: music videos, lyric videos, rehearsals and Shorts. You only earn ad revenue if you join the Partner Program.

Official Artist Channel

It brings your channel and your music together in one place. According to YouTube Help:

  • You need at least one official release delivered by a distributor or label (other YouTube pages mention 3).
  • No policy violations.
  • To work with an enabled partner or be in the Partner Program.
  • It’s requested through your distributor or label.

Content ID

It detects your music in other people’s videos. YouTube only grants it directly to those with exclusive rights over a significant catalog, so the normal route is through your distributor.

  • TuneCore: includes it in its plans and charges 20% on those earnings.
  • DistroKid: offers it as an extra: USD 4.95 per single a year, plus 20% of ad revenue.
  • Don’t include material that isn’t exclusively yours, like samples or purchased tracks: you create claims against people who did nothing wrong.

Think before turning it on: if you want people to use your music in videos, choose to monetize without blocking.

Partner Program

To earn ad revenue on your own videos, YouTube asks for:

  • 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months, or
  • 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.

There’s an entry tier at 500 subscribers, for earlier access to memberships and other fan-funding tools.

What to upload to your channel

  • One simple video per song does more than waiting for an expensive music video: on-screen lyrics, a photo or a rehearsal.
  • Shorts with the strongest part of the song.
  • Beware of duplicates: your video and the one your distributor delivers coexist, but if you turned on Content ID, check it doesn’t claim your own channel.
🔵 Can wait· in distribution

Your music reaches YouTube Music with any distributor. The official channel and Content ID add value, but they get turned on once you have something published.

Common mistakes

Quick path: YouTube

Quick path

  1. Choose a distributor that delivers to YouTube Music.
  2. Create a channel with your project's name.
  3. Upload one simple video per song.
  4. Request the Official Artist Channel through your distributor.
  5. Decide whether you want Content ID and which policy to apply.
  6. Add Shorts with the strongest part.

Expected result

Expected result

Your music on YouTube Music and on your channel, without mixing the two paths, with clear rules on who uses your song. Next is a platform that works differently: Bandcamp, where your audience buys from you directly.