- Delivery
- Within 24 hours of approval; most releases are live within a few days
- Codes
- ISRC and UPC included free
- Your share
- 100% of YouTube Music royalties on the Artist and Label plans
- Content ID
- Included on every plan; you keep 80% on Release, Artist and Label
How music gets onto YouTube Music
YouTube Music, and the music in YouTube Premium, is built from releases that labels and distributors deliver to YouTube. For every track YouTube creates an Art Track: the official audio of the recording, shown with the release's cover art. Art Tracks make up your albums and singles on YouTube Music and turn up in album playlists and search on YouTube itself.
YouTube matches Art Tracks to recordings by their ISRC, so the codes matter here as much as anywhere. Keep the same ISRC for a track for as long as it exists. If you are not sure what that code is, read what an ISRC code is.
A song uploaded as a video to your own channel is a different thing. It is a video, not an official release, and it does not create the album, the track list or the Art Tracks that YouTube Music is built on.
Art Tracks and Content ID: two different jobs
These two are often confused. They work side by side but do different jobs.
| Art Track | Content ID | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The official audio of your track on YouTube Music and YouTube | A reference of your recording that YouTube checks against every upload |
| Where the money comes from | Ads and subscriptions on your own official audio | Ads on other people's videos that use your recording |
| What it suits | Every release | Only audio you control exclusively |
| On TempoDigital | Delivered with the release | Included on every plan; you keep 80% on Release, Artist and Label |
Content ID is what earns when a vlogger, a dance channel or a fan's lyric video uses your song. It can also track those uses or block them. Because it claims every match, it is only for recordings you control outright — not covers of other people's recordings, uncleared samples, beats licensed non-exclusively or public-domain recordings. More on YouTube Content ID and our channel networks.
Topic channels and Official Artist Channels
When an artist has a significant presence on YouTube, YouTube creates a topic channel for them automatically, named "Artist Name - Topic". Nobody uploads to it, and subscribing to it adds it to a list but sends no notifications.
An Official Artist Channel (OAC) brings everything together. Your own channel, your topic channel and any Vevo channel are merged into one, with one subscriber count, your releases listed on the channel, and tools for artists: music analytics, merchandise and ticketing. YouTube's requirements, as of October 2026:
- You own and run one channel for a single artist or band, focused on their music
- At least one official release on YouTube, delivered by a distributor or a label
- No breaches of YouTube's Community Guidelines, Terms of Service or copyright policies
- One of: a YouTube Partner Manager, membership of the YouTube Partner Program, a label network that works with a Partner Manager, or a distributor listed in YouTube's directory of music partners
YouTube also advises having at least one public video on the channel first; requests from channels without one may be turned down. The request itself is made by the artist's label or distributor, not by the artist. If your channel meets the requirements and your music is with us, ask us about it.
Once you have an OAC, the Releases tab in YouTube Studio (on a computer, not the app) lets you ask YouTube to remove a release that is not yours, or add one of yours that is missing.
Releasing on YouTube Music, step by step
- Apply and set up your artistAccounts are opened by application — tell us about your music and we usually have you ready within one working day. Use the artist name exactly as it appears on your earlier releases; a different spelling looks like a different artist to every store.
- Keep your codesIf a track has been released before, keep its ISRC. We create ISRC and UPC codes free for anything new.
- Upload artwork and audioThe cover art is the picture on every Art Track, so it is what people see on YouTube. Use a square image of at least 2400 × 2400 px (3000 × 3000 is ideal) and lossless audio; both are checked on upload.
- Tick YouTube Music, and Content ID if the audio is yoursChoose YouTube Music with the other stores. Add Content ID if you control the recording exclusively. New accounts get Content ID once their first release has been approved.
- Share the official audioEvery release gets a landing page listing each store it is live on, YouTube Music included, with click tracking. Use it in your bio and posts.
How fast YouTube publishes a release is up to YouTube; most stores have releases live within a few days. Set the release date two to three weeks ahead, so YouTube Music goes live on the same day as Spotify and Apple Music and you have time to plan a video around it.
How YouTube Music pays
YouTube pays for official audio from two sources: advertising, when someone listens free, and subscriptions, when a YouTube Music or Premium member listens. It is available in more than 100 countries. There is no fixed amount per stream; what a play earns depends on the country, the listener's plan and the month's advertising, and we do not quote a rate.
| Plan | Price | Your share of YouTube Music royalties |
|---|---|---|
| Release | $8.99 per release | 90% |
| Artist | $29.99 a year, unlimited releases | 100% |
| Label | $149 a year, up to 10 artists | 100% |
| Label Partner | No fee | 85% |
Stores report in arrears — most about two months after the month the plays happened. YouTube Music and Content ID earnings land in the same USD wallet as everything else, and you can follow your YouTube Music numbers next to Spotify and Apple Music on the platform's analytics dashboards, with CSV export.
Mistakes to avoid on YouTube
- Content ID on audio you do not own outright. A cover, a sampled hook or a leased beat gets claimed on other people's videos, and on yours. Leave Content ID unticked for those.
- New ISRCs for old tracks. A new code makes YouTube treat it as a new recording. Keep the original.
- Different spellings of the artist name. "DJ Name", "Dj Name" and "Name" can end up as three artists.
- Weak cover art. It is the only picture on every Art Track. Use a clean, square image at full resolution.
- Waiting for an Official Artist Channel to appear. YouTube creates topic channels by itself; an OAC has to be requested by your label or distributor.