How To Get An Official Artist Channel on YouTube

What are Official Artist Channels on YouTube?

YouTube’s Official Artist Channels pull together all of an artist’s content from across YouTube and Vevo into one dedicated channel. Official Artist Channels are divided into two sections:

- Album Section

- Official Music Videos

YouTube will organise your discography into an album section and all your official music videos into a new playlist. These two sections will be locked and uneditable, but you will be able to organise your channel’s page however you’d like.

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How to set up your Official Artist Channel

You must meet the following requirements to be eligible for an Official Artists Channel on YouTube,

1. Own & operate a YouTube channel that represents you, your band or the artist you represent.

2. Have at least 3 music releases on YouTube via your music distributor.

3. Have no policy violations on your channel.

Once you have submitted an application request for your Official Artist Channel, YouTube will notify you when your channel has been accepted.

If you have a Ditto Music subscription, you can apply for an Official Artist Channel on your account's Artist Dashboard.

Make sure to use your artist name as your channel name, with proper capitalisation and spacing to improve your chances of coming up in YouTube searches. It’s also best practice to avoid adding unnecessary extra words like 'Official' or 'Real'.

Why claim your Official Artist Channel?

All your music and videos in one place

Official Artists Channels will bring together all of your content on one dedicated channel, whether that's music videos, lyrics videos, cover songs, live shows or anything else.

Search discoverability

Official Artist Channels will help you to be more discoverable in search. When your fans search for you on YouTube, they'll be linked directly to your Official Artist Channel from your watch card on the right side of the screen.

Unified presence

One official channel where you can directly reach and interact with your fans on YouTube. We bring all your subscribers to your Official Artist Channel and let you manage your presence on YouTube, YouTube Music and Charts in one place.

Organised content

We automatically organise your music content into an album section and your official music videos into a new playlist, even if the content is on a topic or label channel. You have the option to move, delete and re-add either of these auto-generated music sections from your channel.

Analytics for Artists

Holistic view of your performance on YouTube, including videos uploaded by you, your label or Vevo, as well as videos on other channels and Shorts that use your music.

Promotional content

Choose what you want to highlight in the featured video slot and feature your upcoming concert listings.

What about VEVO?

YouTube may have launched Official Artist Channels, but Vevo isn't going anywhere. And it’s still important to get your music videos on Vevo if you want to maximize potential royalty payments.

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YouTube has a minimum threshold of 1,000 subscribers before royalties can be paid. That means if you have less than 1,000 YouTube subscribers, you won’t receive any money. However, Vevo doesn’t have a subscriber threshold, so you’ll start earning from the moment you set up your channel.

That’s why you should set yourself up on Vevo as soon as possible, where you’re guaranteed earnings while you build towards 1,000 subscribers. Remember, YouTube’s Official Artist Channel merges multi-artist accounts (YouTube Official, YouTube Artist and Vevo) including subscriber numbers.

Here's how to get your music videos on Vevo.