YouTube Best Practices 2025: Optimize Your Channel & Grow Your Audience

YouTube is the world’s largest platform for music discovery and fan engagement, with over 2 billion music users globally. Whether you’re an independent label or distributor, leveraging YouTube’s tools is essential for reaching new audiences, growing your artists’ fan base, and maximizing revenue opportunities.

This guide from ANS Music covers everything from channel setup and content strategy to Shorts, livestreaming, and analytics. Whether you distribute your own artists’ music as a label or manage a catalog of releases as a distributor, these best practices will help you grow your business and maximize opportunities on YouTube.

1. Build and Optimize Your YouTube Channel

Your YouTube channel is your music hub—the central place where fans connect with your content. A well-optimized channel improves discoverability, engagement, and monetization, making it easier to maximize reach.

Get an Official Artist Channel (OAC)

An Official Artist Channel (OAC) consolidates an artist’s music from multiple sources (Vevo, Topic, etc.) and enhances visibility on YouTube Music and Search. If you’re a label managing an artist or a distributor working with multiple acts, ensuring your artists have an OAC is crucial.

OAC Eligibility Requirements:

✅ An automatically generated Topic Channel under the artist’s name
✅ An owned & operated YouTube channel featuring only the artist’s music
✅ At least one official music video or art track uploaded

❌ Ineligible Content: Covers, remixes, mashups (unless created by the artist), content from multiple artists on the same channel, Various Artists compilations, or religious recitations.

🔗 Request an OAC with ANS Music: YouTube OAC Application

Optimize Your Channel Branding & Layout

A well-branded YouTube channel builds credibility and strengthens fan engagement.

Best Practices for Branding:

• Profile Picture & Banner – Use a high-quality 800x800px profile image and a 2560x1440px banner showcasing new releases, tours, or collaborations.

• Channel Description – Include SEO-friendly keywords, a compelling bio, and links to streaming platforms & social media.

• Playlists – Organize content into Albums, Live Sessions, Behind-the-Scenes, and Lyric Videos for better discoverability.

2. Video Optimization: Titles, Descriptions & Tags

Metadata is key to discoverability and engagement. Whether you’re distributing music for multiple artists or managing a label’s content, optimizing metadata ensures your videos reach the right audience.

Best Practices for Metadata

• Titles – Use clear, keyword-rich, and consistent formatting (e.g., Artist Name – Song Title [Official Music Video]).

• Descriptions – Structure video descriptions strategically:

  • First two lines – Strong call-to-action (e.g., Stream now, Subscribe, Follow on socials).

  • Middle section – Links to playlists, tour dates, featured credits.

  • Bottom – Use relevant hashtags (#NewMusic, #ArtistName, #MusicGenre).

• Tags – Add highly relevant keywords (artist name, song title, music genre, collaborations).

• Thumbnails – Use high-contrast visuals, bold text overlays, and consistent branding to boost click-through rates.

3. Multi-Format Strategy: Shorts, Long-Form & Livestreams

A successful YouTube strategy includes Shorts, long-form videos, and livestreams to maximize engagement and music discovery.

YouTube Shorts: The Discovery Engine

Shorts are one of the fastest-growing music discovery tools on YouTube. They are under 3-minute vertical videos featuring: ✅ Song teasers
✅ Behind-the-scenes footage
✅ Fan challenges and viral trends
✅ Live session snippets

Best Practices for YouTube Shorts:

• Use Shorts-specific hashtags (#Shorts, #NewMusic).

• Encourage fans to create Shorts using your music.

🔗 Learn more: YouTube Shorts Best Practices