13 Unique Ways To Make Money As A Musician On YouTube 2021

Ever wondered how to make money from your music YouTube channel?

I hate to say this; monetizing your music on YouTube is difficult, especially as an emerging artiste due to the limited availability of content to upload on YouTube.

However, when it comes to comparing YouTube to other various music streaming platforms to see how much you get paid per stream.

YouTube is often overlooked.

When you think about it, Spotify pays you 0.00004$ per stream and, YouTube offers you a whopping 0.10$ per stream on every view of your videos or the track itself.

Which is huge compared to other music distribution platforms.

Needless to say, when you go to YouTube to watch videos you often see pre-roll ads (Ads Before the start of the video) and others on the sidebar.

It can be quite tempting for musicians that are just starting out and expect to make money off of their hard work with Ads.

it’s a bit of a process that demands hard work and consistency to start reaping from your labor on YouTube.

The secret?

I’ll show you a never before heard ways to make money off of your YouTube as a musician.

The bonus?

In the end, I’ll show you actionable strategies to get more YouTube views fast.

Without further ado, let’s hit the highway!

What You Need To Get Started

First things first, before revealing the monetization models, there are fundamentals to YouTube, and one of the standalone reasons musicians don’t find traction on YouTube is because they ignore the fundamentals.

YouTube is a video-based search engine, in fact, it has well over 2 billion logged-in users and over 500 hours of videos get published on YouTube every minute.

So, in the preceding post, I analyzed YouTube marketing strategies for musicians. In that article, I talked about some technicalities and how to make your video show up on search engines.

That being said, you need a Gmail account, camera, and a PC/Phone to get started.

How To Create A YouTube Channel?

Requirements For Making Money On YouTube

Eating requires getting the necessary condiments and foodstuffs ready. That can be likened to YouTube. The YouTube community has pretty strict monetization policies that you mustn’t bridge.

As a musician endeavor to have these minimum requirements:

• ·        More than 4, 000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months. Plus,
• ·        Have more than 1,000 subscribers.
• ·        Live in a country where the YouTube partner program is available.
• ·        Have a linked AdSense

Once you’re in compliance with their requirements, you can apply for the program and start placing ads on your video. YouTube pays you directly to your AdSense account.

More clarity? Read on!

13 Unique Ways Musicians Make Money On YouTube In 2021

• 1. Understand How the Algorithm Works
• 2. Tutorship
• 3. Make money off of Cover songs
• 4. Brand Sponsorship Deals
• 5. Promoting Songs
• 6. YouTube Music Distribution
• 7. Product Recommendation
• 8. YouTube Partner Program
• 9. Content ID Monetization
• 10.Product UNBOXING
• 11.Create Full Blown Courses

1.  Understand How The Algorithm Works

Let’s face it!

Every organization follows some pretty streamlined laws in relation to other firms. Or as a company, there are laid down laws workers in that organization must adhere to.

Same with YouTube.

One of the major reasons most musicians don’t see success on YouTube is neglecting the fundamentals of YouTube.

From watch time, Video intelligence, and audience retention, being able to bring people to the platform and make them stick around much longer is a key metric of the YouTube algorithm.

Put these strategies into consideration in 2021. That way, you won’t make detrimental mistakes in your early stages. 

2.  Tutorship

Musicians are an incredibly talented set of people who ever lived on planet earth. To top it all, music is an incredibly important part of life is always on demand.

And as a musician, I don’t want you to be the kind of artiste that only Uploads official music videos to YouTube and off you vanish after three months.

If you do this, it’ll take ages to get monetize on YouTube. Because you need enough happenings (contents) on your YouTube channel to get traction.

In a nutshell, you’ve to upload consistently. At least 3 to 4 videos every week.

Talking about consistency, there are thousands of thousands of emerging artists that want to learn how to play instruments.

Simply making video tutorials and selling them on Udemy, Coursera will make you tons of dollars. If you’re really good at voice training, playing instruments, tutor others.

That would serve as a passive income stream till your music kicks off.

Above all, you can sell them on your YouTube channel by promoting the links in the video description. There’s a ton of money to be made.

That’s how you do it.

3.  Make Money Off Of Cover Songs

I know what’s running through your mind…

You might have read a bunch of articles that tell you it’s impossible to make money from your cover songs…. or maybe you don’t know you can make it without getting a copyright strike.

Guess what? It’s possible to make money from covers. And I highly recommend investing money in buying necessary equipment in creating killer cover songs with your phone.

That being said, I’ve created a complete guide on monetizing cover songs on YouTube and other various streaming platforms without hassle.

4.  Brand Sponsorship Deals

It’s no news that musicians make a ton of money from endorsing other brands. But, what I’m about is, endorsing a brand directly on the YouTube channel.

Say, you’re a musician that teaches other emerging artiste how to produce a song from the comfort of their homes.

A company that produces software for music production can give their just-released software to you for review and also recommend to your audience which will, in turn, make you huge income.

For example, a fellow YouTuber friend often reviews the latest studio microphones from multimillion-dollar companies directly on his YouTube channel.

Epic, right?

But, to get to that level of connection, you need to build a dedicated fan base on YouTube and that can happen by posting consistently.

Because YouTube is an organic platform that grows steadily and slowly over time. Patience is key!

Fortunately, I’ve created a complete guide for YouTube music marketing to set you on the right foot.

5.  YouTube Music

Obviously, this is one of the most explored means in terms of making on YouTube. As a music promoter, I’ve come across artists that don’t know how to distribute their music on YouTube.

But the question is;

YouTube music works the same as Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms.

The big question is;

6.  Promotion Of Songs

YouTube is such a passive income model for musicians around the world. And your YouTube channel shouldn’t be laser-focused or brand-focused.

Confused? Don’t be.

…let me lift the veil!

When you get to a considerable number of subscribers and viewership on your YouTube Channel, it’s certain you’ll get dozens of dozens of requests from other musicians asking to get their music promoted on your channel.

In that state, you shouldn’t discriminate or be nitpicky about a brand. Instead, if your audience will love the song, go ahead and promote it.

Besides, it’s another passive income stream for you, right?

More importantly, it positions you as credible, authoritative, and influential in the industry.  

A little caveat here…

Be discreet not promote the song of your competitor on your channel because chances are, you might shift your audience to the artiste.

A competitor is a musician that does the same genre or style of music as you. One of which you share a ton of similarities

That is not good for business, right?  

7.   Affiliate Marketing

By virtue of being a musician and also a YouTuber, you would have used a lot of instruments like; Piano, Drum kits, Guitar, Microphones, Cameras, speakers, and other product-related instruments.

More importantly, you’ve probably googled or searched on YouTube for a review of those products, to get an insider look at what they are before buying, right?

So, that’s a product recommendation or popularly noted as Affiliate Marketing.

You will agree with me – There are a ton of musicians just starting out and are looking to buy some of the equipment.

But they need insights on what the product can offer, the pros and cons, right?

For example; months back, I wanted to buy a Lavalier Microphone to get started with my YouTube channel, I read and watched a ton of reviews before whipping out my credit card.

Same goes to you, reviewing equipments on your YouTube channel by just telling them the pros and cons of buying it will ultimately make you a ton money.

But, recommending products won’t make you any money, right?

How Do Musicians Make From Affiliate Marketing On YouTube?

• 1. First off, register for the following affiliate programs; Amazon, Commission Junction, ClickBank, Walmart, amongst others.
• 2. Get your Unique Link from your respective affiliate program and promote them in your video description.
• 3. Always recommend people to check out links in your video description.
• 4. Then you’ll get paid commission for any product they buy from your link.
• 5. Make sure you tell them it’s an affiliate link.
• 8.  YouTube Partner Program

You’ve probably heard of the YouTube Partner Program. If you’re not, then it’s the most popular and basic means of making a living from content uploaded to YouTube.

YouTube serves contextual ads on your content.

Now, this is different from streaming your music on YouTube Music.

For more clarity? Read on!

However, as I’ve mentioned above, to attain this foot, there’s some minimum requirements every YouTube channel must meet;

 Minimum Requirements To Monetize Through (YPP)

• ·        More than 4, 000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months. Plus,
• ·        Have more than 1,000 subscribers.
• ·        Live in a country where a YouTube partner program is available.
• ·        Have a linked AdSense

The revenue is not fixed and the opportunities for making money is unlimited.  

Remember, YouTube is an organic platform that grows slowly and steadily. Its requires some level consistency and commitment to garner subscribers and engagement.  

9.  Content ID Monetization

I know some of the terminologies in this article are pretty new to you, I will do my best to deliver in a layman’s comprehension.

Do you know some musicians make money when other creators or cover artistes use their songs for any form production, automatically?

The content ID tool is a way YouTube regulates the illegal use of content for any form of production without prior permission from the original creators.

If the content is flagged as copyright infringement, the original creators get to decide what happens when the content in any production matches any owned by YouTube. When a match is found, the video gets a Content ID claim.

What does this mean for you?

It means you won’t be able to generate revenue from that piece of content irrespective of the amount of engagement.

Rather, the original creator makes money off of the content.

But if you still want to monetize content with a copyright claim, read this article about how to monetize cover songs on YouTube.

Above all, to get started with YouTube Content ID, you can register through an aggregator or distributor of your songs.

That way, you’ll obtain a Content ID that would enable you to make money off of your contents.

10. Product Unboxing

Here’s the deal…

Unboxing is the process of unpacking and revealing a product or item on camera by creating a thrilling experience.

Whether it’s a kid on Christmas Day or an Adult on an anniversary, we all get excited opening presents – no matter our age, right?

Do you know what’s pretty cool?

Unboxing videos are growing by a whopping 57% a year according to Google. (sufio.com)

As a musician, there’s no better time to create content geared towards making money through product unboxing.

Here’s why its cooler than regular Affiliate marketing….

It cloths your viewers with dripping curiosity, and that thrilling experience will increase the odds of people clicking the link to buy the product.

And one of the other fascinating experience about it is, when viewers see the product in your hands it’s much more a better testimonial and experience for the person.

Its huge in the industry, and with less.

Taking advantage of it is the surest way to make passive income while you sleep.

11. Create Full Blown Courses

I teased this a bit when I talked about “Tutorship”. It’s way bigger than that.

However, it’s an abroad topic and can’t be covered in this article.

Let me tell you a quick story;

Len Smith was making a good living as a copywriter in England. He had written a bestseller book and had a consistent work pulling in at least $120, 000 a year.

One day, out of the blue, Udemy contacted him.

They proposed to turn his book, How To Be A Copywriter And Earn Money From Home into an online course.

Along with others they developed and started with an additional $4k every month.

With a little bit of effort, he makes a whopping $6,500 a month.

Epic, right?

Imagine making that huge an income every single month.

The best part? All you need is to sit in front of a camera tutoring others on what you know and how they can digest it.

The payment is automated.

Bonus – How To More Views fast On YouTube

As promised, I will show some unique ways to increase your engagement on YouTube.

Above all, the strategies are up to date. Make sure to click here to read.  

Wrapping Up – How To Musicians Make Money on YouTube

It’s time to start making money on YouTube.

You don’t need to be perfect to stand in front a camera and tutor others on what you know.  There’s a ton of musicians living large and making exploits in the industry.

That’s why YouTube exploding in popularity.

Over to you;

What are other YouTube Monetization models you’ve tried and what’s has your experience been like?

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