Having an Official Artist Channel (OAC) on YouTube is a game-changer for musicians. It centralizes your music, videos, and content in one place, making it easier for fans to discover and engage with your work. Plus, it unlocks powerful tools like analytics, content organization, and promotional features that help you grow your audience and build your brand as an artist.
Once your channel is up and running, you'll be able to upload videos, engage with your audience, and customize your branding for a truly personal touch.
While there are many types of channels on YouTube, for this process we will be referring to the following 3 types:
User-Owned and Operated Channel: These are the default channels that individuals create when they sign up for YouTube. They are tied to a personal Google account and are often used by artists to upload their tracks, live performances, interviews, etc.
Artist Topic Channel: These are automatically generated by YouTube to group music or other content by a specific artist. For example, "Artist Name - Topic" channels aggregate official releases of music when an artist's content is distributed to YouTube Music but isn't managed by the artist directly.
Official Artist Channel (OAC): These are verified and official channels for artists and musicians. They consolidate music videos, albums, and artist-generated content into a single channel. These channels usually have a music note icon next to their name.
WHY CREATE YOUR OFFICIAL ARTIST CHANNEL?
Building an OAC on YouTube gives you full creative freedom and control over your content. You'll be able to:
Centralized Content: Combines your music, videos, and fan engagement into one unified channel.
Increased Visibility: Highlights your music in YouTube Music and enhances your discoverability across the platform.
Customizable Branding: This allows you to personalize your channel with official branding and organize content your way.
Advanced Analytics: Provides insights into your audience, streams, and engagement to help you grow.
Exclusive Features: Unlocks tools like ticketing integration, merch display, and promotional opportunities.
More Followers: Any existing followers the Topic Channel has will be transferred over automatically to the OAC.
REQUIREMENTS
Before diving in, ensure you meet these basic requirements:
Have a User Owned and Operated Channel. If you don't have one yet, first head to Google and create an account. Afterward, please read Google’s help article for step-by-step instructions on how to create the channel.
Link your Social Media and Music profiles (Beatport, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, etc) on your channel by updating the About section.
Have a release published on a Topic Channel. To request an Official Artist Channel (OAC), you must have at least one release published on YouTube as a primary artist, either as an original or remix artist, and it should be featured on an Artist Topic Channel (search "Artist Name - Topic" on YouTube).
Have AT LEAST ONE video uploaded to your User Owned and Operated Channel that features a track from your Artist Topic Channel that was released on a Proton-distributed label.
Note: For your first release, YouTube may take up to 30 days to create an Artist Topic Channel. During this time, your release might appear on a "Release Topic" channel. If this happens, please share the video URL with us so we can request the creation of your Artist Topic Channel.
If you meet these requirements and are successfully approved for an OAC, a few things will happen:
Your Owned & Operated Channel will be upgraded to an OAC.
For clarity, an OAC is not a new channel that gets created, but an upgrade to your existing User Owned and Operated Channel.
The Topic Channel will be merged/closed into the newly upgraded OAC and will not be visible/searchable on YouTube after the merge is complete.
Any followers of the Topic Channel will be migrated/merged into your Owned & Operated Channel, which is now the OAC.
Upgrading to an OAC therefore is a great way to grow your own channel's followers, because it combines the followers of the topic channel.
What’s next?
Once you meet the requirements contact us at support@protonradio.com and include the following details:
The URL for your User Owned and Operated Channel.
The URL for your Artist Topic Channel (Example: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpwR1PqybKndLVuIy7F74tX). If you have multiple Artist Topic Channels please list all the URLs.
If any tracks on your Artist Topic Channel aren’t yours, share their URLs, and we’ll request their removal.
Take charge of your creative journey and start your YouTube channel today! With the right strategy and dedication, you can grow your audience, showcase your unique sound, and establish yourself as an artist on one of the most visited platforms out there.