Every artist has been there. You’ve posted your latest music video on YouTube and are waiting for those views to start coming in. After all that hard work making the track, putting more creative energy into the video itself, reaching out on social media and you still aren’t getting the traction you want.
For artists with a huge fanbase, blasting that announcement over Twitter, Instagram, and the like is enough to build momentum. But what if you don’t have that privilege?
We're here to walk you through some great strategies to get more plays on YouTube, even if you don’t have a huge fan base.
Many of these methods require zero fans, and you won’t have to dip into your savings. There are, of course, paid methods that can get you results faster, and we’ll touch on those too.
Ready to learn how to get the most out of your newest music video and start racking up those plays on YouTube? Read on!
Method 1: Getting on YouTube Playlists
There are over 2 billion active users on YouTube. Moreover, the platform has become a major player when it comes to streaming music.
To take advantage of this large user base, you need to get on playlists.
Much like Spotify, playlists are a gigantic part of how people engage with the platform and listen to music. They offer a great way to access fans that wouldn't normally find your music. Fresh ears equals more plays and more fans.
So let’s jump into some ways you can your music videos in front of playlist curators.
SubmitHub
SubmitHub is an amazing service. Essentially, it's a platform that helps musicians get in touch with bloggers, curators, and other industry folks.
They offer both a free and paid service, so don’t feel like you have to shell out the cash. The paid version, however, can give you results faster and more efficiently. But if you’ve got the time and motivation, you can find success just by using the free version.
Here’s what you do:
- Create an account and log in
- Filter your search by creator type; in this case, playlist curators
- Next, filter your options by genre and type and platform
- From here, you’ve got a list of curators to reach out to
If you want to learn more about SubmitHub, we’ve got great videos on the ins and outs on our YouTube channel.
Finding Playlist Manually
While you SubmitHub can be a great tool in your music video marketing strategy, you can always find curators yourself. To do this, you simply need to use the YouTube search function.
Here is what you’ll want to do:
- Search by genre, type in the type of playlist you want to submit to the search bar.
- Next, you’ll need to filter your results. Make sure you are only looking at playlists.
- Once you’ve found one you like, try and find the about section for some contact info.
- Look for an email address or other outlet to reach out and contact the playlist creator.
While this sounds simple, there are some tricks to get the most out of this method. Obviously, you’ll want to make sure your music is a good fit. Look through the playlist and see what kind of videos are being posted. Would your video mesh with the other content?
The next thing you’ll want to check out is playlist activity. There is no point in submitting to a playlist that hasn’t been updated in three years. Moreover, you want to make sure that there is some kind of active moderation happening on the playlist.
Finally, make sure the playlist is getting plenty of views. While there might be some advantages to getting on up-and-coming playlists, we are here for views.
Method 2: Optimize Your Videos for YouTube
Now, we’re not going to sugar coat it: video optimization is a dense subject. We’d love to give you the ins and outs of optimizing your video, but we won’t be able to give the subject justice in just a few hundred words.
There are plenty of amazing resources out there for you to use. Just search “how to optimize your videos for YouTube” on the platform. Those top results, well, those are the best optimized, so they should offer solid information.
That being said: there are some tricks you can use to get into those searches.
Posting Cover Songs
The first thing you might consider doing is doing some cover songs. It might not be what you want to do, but it can be a great way to get plays and bring attention to your channel. People will be searching for popular tracks, and they just might click your cover song video if it pops up when they search.
These plays can bring more traffic to your channel. More traffic to your channel means your other videos will get plays too.
Create Your own Playlists
Another method of optimization is to create your own playlists. In this scenario, you’d be putting your video in the same rotation as popular songs.
You’ll want to make sure that you’ve chosen the right genre and found songs that compliment your video. This can be a great strategy to bring attention to your music, but it will take some work.
For one, there are a lot of playlists out there. Creating successful YouTube playlists is an art in and of itself. But, if you put the time and effort into building the playlists, people will find it. Consequently, those viewers will also be exposed to your music as well.
Method 3: YouTube Ads
Since Google owns YouTube, this means you’ll be dealing with the Google Ads manager platform. Thankfully, Google Ads is set up to be easy to use.
This will cost you money, but it's a great way to get views for your videos.
There are several ways to place video ads on YouTube, but what we are going to look at is using in-stream ads. These are going to play either at the front of a video or while it is playing.
Google Ads is great because you can cherry-pick where your video is going to play. Here is where the strategy comes in. Obviously, you’ll want to make sure you are placing your video ad in a space where it will get the most success.
This will mean finding channels that are similar to your video. This could mean the same genre, or it could be industry channels where other musicians might be.
Once you have your ads placed, wait and see those plays start to roll in.
Wrapping Up
Promoting your new music video on YouTube isn’t hard; it just takes a little strategy. Even if you don’t have any fans or money, you can make a splash on the platform with a little hard work.
We’ve learned a few things today. First is that playlists can get you fans, and there are so many great ways to find curators. Second, optimizing your video for search can be difficult, but you can implement some easy options today to get more views.
Lastly, if you have a bit of capital to spare, using the Google Ads Manager can be an easy way to get views on your videos.
If you want to learn more about promoting your video on Youtube, make sure to check out our comprehensive guide to promoting your music. The best part: it's free!
