YouTube Launches New Ways for Creators to Earn Money from Their Content

YouTube is working on launching new ways for content creators to earn money from their contents, a process the company earlier this week said is part of the next chapter in rewarding creativity on the platform.

YouTube made this known at its inaugural Made on YouTube event, YouTube shared that it’s expanding the platform’s monetization system, the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), to allow more creators to join the program, introducing new ways for creators to earn revenue through Shorts, and re-imagining the music industry and creator dynamic by opening up ads monetization for those who feature music in their videos.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube
Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube

YouTube creators, Colin and Samir said: “Over the last three years, YouTube has paid out $50 billion to over 2 million creators, artists and media companies. Through its Partner Program – more than any other platform. That’s $45 million a day. $1.9 million an hour, $528 a second. Every second. For the last three years. Today’s announcements prove that YouTube is continuing to lead the way in its commitment to creators everywhere.”

Read also Nigerian Government Asks Google to Block Banned Groups from YouTube

The announcement reflects the diversity of the platform’s growing creator community and allows its over 2 million monetizing creators to make money on YouTube across any creative format.

The key announcement includes:

Expanding access to YPP: Starting in early 2023, Shorts-focused creators can apply to YPP by meeting a threshold of 1K subscribers and 10M Shorts views over 90 days. These new partners will enjoy all the benefits YPP offers, including ads monetization across Shorts and long-form YouTube videos.

This is another option to the existing criteria where long-form creators can still apply to YPP when they reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Creators can choose the one option that best fits their channel while YouTube maintains the same level of brand safety for advertisers. To support creators who are early in their YouTube journey, YouTube will also introduce a new level of YPP with lower requirements that will offer earlier access to Fan Funding features like Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Channel Memberships.

Read also GIZ Opens Investment Readiness Training For Agritech And Foodtech And Their Verticals In Africa

Introducing a first-of-its-kind revenue sharing model for Shorts: With 30B+ daily views and 1.5B+ monthly logged-in users, Shorts are exploding around the world. To reward this new creative class, beginning in early 2023, we’ll be moving away from a fixed fund and doubling down on a unique revenue-sharing model for Shorts for both current and future YPP creators. Because ads run between videos in the Shorts Feed, every month, revenue from these ads will be added together and used to reward Shorts creators and help cover costs of music licensing. From the overall amount allocated to creators, they will keep 45% of the revenue, distributed based on their share of total Shorts views. The revenue share remains the same, no matter if they use music or not. 

Launching Creator Music: The complexities of music licensing have meant that most long-form videos that feature music don’t result in creators being paid. To build a bridge between the music industry and creators, YouTube is introducing Creator Music, a new destination that gives creators easy access to an ever-growing catalogue of music for use in their videos, while providing artists and music rights holders with a new revenue stream for their music on YouTube.

Creators can now buy affordable, high-quality music licenses that offer them the full monetizing potential—they will keep the same revenue share they’d usually make on videos without any music. And for creators who don’t want to buy a license up front, they’ll be able to use songs and share revenue with the track’s artist and associated rights holders. Creator Music is currently in beta in the U.S. and will expand to more countries in 2023.

“The YouTube Partner Program was revolutionary when we launched it back in 2007, and it’s still revolutionary today. Over the last three years, YouTube has paid creators, artists, and media companies more than $50 billion dollars,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.

“That $50 billion dollars has changed the lives of creators around the world and enabled new voices and stories to be told. But we’re not done yet. When we introduced the YouTube Partner Program, we made a big bet: we succeed only when our creators succeed. And today, we’re doubling down. We’re introducing the next chapter in how we reward creativity on our platform by expanding access to our YouTube Partner program.”

Read also How Tech Businesses Can Empower South African Entrepreneurs

“Creator Music is the future. We’re building the bridge between artists and creators on YouTube to elevate the soundtrack of the creator economy; it’s a win-win-win for artists, songwriters, creators and fans,” said Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music.

“With Creator Music, artists have a new way to get their music out into the world; fans can now discover music they love on their favourite creator’s channels, and both creators and artists will have new revenue opportunities.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

D’banj, Davido, Yemi Alade Others, to Perform at YouTube Africa Day Concert

YouTube has announced a stellar lineup of artists hailing from five countries, who will be performing at this year’s Africa Day Concert. Like previous editions, the Africa Day Concert which is in its third year will be hosted by superstar Idris Elba. The annual concert is a musical homage to Africa, showcasing the vibrant African music stars who are making headlines across the world.

Alex Okosi, Managing Director at YouTube EMEA.

The concert seeks to bring Africans, the Diaspora, and people from across the world together to celebrate a continent that is home to more than 1.5 billion people and is spawning new ways of artistic expression. This year’s concert will feature artists from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, South Africa, and Congo who are set to perform. The concert will be streamed exclusively on YouTube at 19:00 CAT / 18:00 WAT on the 25th of May, 2022.

Read also YouTube Reaffirms Commitment to Support African Creators

“YouTube as a platform has been a mainline for connecting African artists to people all around the world and the Africa Day Concert is an opportunity to reaffirm YouTube’s support for African artists as they showcase the vibrant sounds and culture that makes Africa truly unique”, says Alex Okosi, Managing Director at YouTube EMEA.

The highly anticipated concert will showcase musical performances that will be streamed to a global audience. From Nigeria, talented music artists, D’banj, Davido, CKay, Yemi Alade, Reekado Banks, and Mayorkun will be performing at the virtual concert this year. Also performing from the West African region is popular Sierra Leonean recording and performing artist, Drizilik.

Read also Google Announces 30,000 Developer Scholarships for Africans

Also set to perform at the Africa Day Concert are singer-songwriter and poet, Busiswa Gqulu, and singer and dancer, Kamo Mpela; both from South Africa. They are known for hit songs, SBWL and Nkulunkulu respectively. Tanzanian singer, songwriter, and WCB (Wasafi Classic Baby) artist, Zuchu will be performing her hit songs at the concert while Congolese singer-songwriter, Innoss’B, and the Naomi Campbell crooner round out the lineup of artists performing this year at the Africa Day Concert. 

The concert is aimed at commemorating the foundation of the Organisation of Africa Unity on the 25th of May 1963 by using music as a platform to showcase African culture. 

Read also Viva Technology and IFC Reveal Top 45 Most Innovative Startups In Africa

The artists confirmed to perform at the Africa Day Concert 2022 are (in alphabetical order):

Busiswa (South Africa)

Ckay (Nigeria)

Davido (Nigeria)

Dbanj (Nigeria)

Drizilik (Sierra Leone)

Innoss’B (Congo)

Kamo Mpela (South Africa)

Mayorkun (Nigeria)

Reekado Banks (Nigeria)

Yemi Alade (Nigeria)

Zuchu (Tanzania)

People who wish to join the live stream of the Africa Day Concert may visit YouTube.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

YouTube Creators Can Now Change Their Channel Names

YouTube has announced that it’ll now be easier for creators to change their name and profile picture on channels.

“Until now, creators had to change their name and icon for their entire Google account — so their name on YouTube would be the same name they send emails from in Gmail.”

YouTube
YouTube

“That didn’t necessarily make sense from a branding or professional perspective, and the new system should offer a bit more flexibility for creators who might prefer to send emails under their actual name instead of their channel name.”

Read also:Orange Launches Season 2 of “Y’Africa”,to Showcase African Culture.

There is one catch, however, creators with a verification badge will have to reapply if they decide to change their name.

YouTube is rolling out “Checks” – a new tool to help make uploading videos and receiving ad revenue easier for creators.

“Hey Creators! Today we’re rolling out a new step in the upload process on Studio desktop called “Checks” – which will automatically screen your uploads for potential copyright claims and ad suitability restrictions,” says YouTube in a blog post.

Read also:South African Fintech Startup, Payflex, Secures New Funding Round

This new tool is expected to help creators minimize the number of videos uploaded with copyright claims and/or yellow icons to avoid surprises or worries.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry