Most musicians make this mistake on YouTube: Official Channel vs Topic Channel (how to merge)
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- How to claim your official UA-cam artist channels, so here is the guide for artists using LANDR, DISTROKID, CD BABY, and every other distributor as the process is the same 🎉
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Something worth noting is that your Topic channel never goes away. Your music distributor uploads your music to the Topic channel, but UA-cam makes it look like the releases appear on your Artist channel. However, if your distributor uploads your track to a wrong Topic channel (something that happens more often than people would think), it is worth having your Topic channel ID / URL handy. So make sure you store it somewhere, because it will be harder to find once you make the merge 🙂.
Great advice! Thanks for sharing this!
I love this, thanks for sharing...
@@IndieMusicAcademy highlight this sir please!
Thank you IMA!
I noticed this as well. I started re-releasing music again through DistroKid and the "new releases" are appearing in two places... my "AOC" and the "Topic" channel too.
My channel is in the middle of transitioning into an artist channel...
I made the mistake as a beginner by claiming the topic channel... and now there is other people's music on the channel as well as my own... and i've been trying to disconnect without having any other problems with my account and stuff.
Wonderful video. Informative. Right to the point. I have followed your instructions and went to DistroKid to merge my "topic" channel to my official UA-cam channel. I'm waiting on the process to be completed now. Again, thanks for this video.
Since my post a month ago, I am still waiting for the process to be completed by DistroKid. It has been a long process of submitting requests and tickets to DistroKid. The "transition" seemed to have begun yesterday, as I see my "releases" through DistroKid appearing on my "Artist Owned Channel" on UA-cam. However, my analytics have been wiped out, yet it still shows cumulative views and watch hours under the "earn" tab. If I look at my stats through "analytics" it essentially shows nothing. I am hoping this is a temporary thing, as UA-cam continues the conversion of my channel to an official "AOC". I started receiving emails from UA-cam that the process has begun. We shall see. Again, thank you for your great video which helped me start the process.
@@MarkRichardMazzu Did your stats and watch hours returned back to normal? are you still able to monetize on YT when the merge happens?
@@viviluna. Yes. Everything, all the stats, eventually came back. It took a few days, and it seemed to update in parts.
O my god someone is finally gonna answer this question, I've always never understood it right thank you
Haha amazing! So glad this helped!
Thank you for this. I did this a few days before I found this video. I then started searching for more related content and came across this one. Still, thanks for putting this info out there!
This is really helping me out, thx :D
Cheers bro
Recent CD Baby user here. My issue with this process is that the 6 months will come and go with no change. And despite CDBaby's site telling how you can write to support for help if the youtube artist channel never happens, the truth is you can wait another 6 months with no response for support as well. CDBaby has its advantages, but customer support on things like this is NOT one of them.
did u ever get a reply?
@@KAHIRAZAREN Nope. I DID figure out by reading more details that to be converted to an artist channel, you need to have 1 or more VIDEOS you created using your songs. So now (as of around December) I've added one video using one of my songs as a soundtrack for it, and I put it on my youtube channel. Still, the response from CDBaby was crickets, and I definitly never got a notification from Google" or UA-cam" . For all I know, the channel has already become "official". My channel ID now does start with "OC". But there is no "music note" next to my channel, or any other clue that it it is an "official artist" channel. Guess I just don't know how it works.
Thanks to your content I just requested my music channel through distrokid ❤
Unfortunately there are too many UA-cam channels called Jeeyong Park so I am not able to change my youtube channel name to my Distrokid artist name. I contacted Distrokid TWICE this month August 2024. Have not heard back
this is very helpful, thank you so much!
Lost all my UA-cam channel video analytics after linking it to Distrokid and im freaking tf out lol. please tell me this isnt permanent
i have this the main issue is my music videos wont automatically show up in my album playlist like they previously did (previously it would merger the topic channel veiws with the music videos veiws) but now it isnt doing this
My bad, I replied on the wrong thread, but good video, it's a very easy process. Just takes a little time to merge.
Not all heroes wear capes i swear😂😂 thanks a lot man
Do you need oac?
@huryra_azam oac?? Ask you mom pucci boy
@@girlsloveshein97 same mf thoughts oac means official artist channel
What if you’ve released through different distributors and they are all under one Topic channel
Thanks for the info! I'm a new music artist and really have a lot of things I need to do. This helps.
How can I turn on my comments on the videos of my merged artist account ?
thanks for your help🤝😁
So if we post our corresponding music / lyric video on our personal channel, we won’t get hit with a copyright strike? Even though our “topic” channel uploaded the same audio ?
Good question! You will get a copyright claim, not a strike. Which is actually a good thing. I cover that in this video here:
ua-cam.com/video/g1QJBGkej_I/v-deo.html
Thanks for this! Great explanation :)
Hey. I need help. I managed to make the merge request for my channel. But my latest releases the comments are still disabled. Do you have any solutions?
Do it take 2-3 days for your badge to show?
When i write a comment, the badge is next to my name and when i refresh it its gone Why is that so
Alright let me try it out
does every band have a topic page? sometimes it hard to find the topic page.
What is the best option for newbie? First release songs on streaming platforms and then publish music videos on youtube to merge topic with channel? or else anyting?
Order shouldn’t matter as long as the criteria is met! What you outlined will work!
Wait so there is no way of doing this merge unless I am subscribed to a distributor?
I am a tech house artist; all my releases are through tech house record labels.
Any thoughts will be highly appreciated🙏🏽
On CD Baby, is this process identical to "Get an Official Artist Channel"? I don't see any option which says "merge your topic and personal UA-cam Channels," or anything like that. But I do see ""Get an Official Artist Channel," and oddly, a couple minutes after filling in that form, the little note appeared next to my name on my UA-cam Channel!
And if I do have that little note on my UA-cam channel (indicating it's an official artist channel,) is that confirmation this merging process has been completed? Thanks!
Hey, great video. But I'd like to know how do I do if I did get release by a pro labels ?
Routenote user here, how can I merge both?
How do you get your release on both your videos tab and release tab without manually uploading and creating duplicates. And if you upload dupliacte, how to link that duplictate to the release tab instead of the auto generated video
this was so helpful! I finally did it with your help, I couldn't understand it before! THANK YOU!
Very valuable video and chanel, just discovered it, already subscribed, thanks
I liked
I registered as a writer for ASCAP as a minor, can I register for a publisher too?
thx
is it possible to merge 2 different artists (because I have different artist profiles) on the same official channel?
Good job
I applied for UA-cam OAC through CD Baby (my distributor) and it's been 8 weeks. Their support site says to email support if it's been 6 weeks and nothing has happened. I did that 2 weeks ago. UA-cam never sent me an email about the process starting. I don't know why it's taking this long; UA-cam says CD Baby is a preferred partner.
Edit: I didn't realize I needed to have a corresponding video uploaded on my main channel. Just did that. I didn't know about that until this video. Hopefully now that gets the issue fixed. CD Baby says that the account have been successfully connected for a while so maybe its a problem on UA-cam's side.
Any update on this? thanks
@@HooktOnCarolina CDBaby support sent me an email that they would look into it but do it in order of who emailed support first. My CDBaby account says that the UA-cam channel is successfully linked so it seems it's just UA-cam taking forever
@@matthewkenyonmusic gotcha. I was able to get it done in 48 hours after applying through LANDR. I did have a normal video up though on my channel. I also found out it has to be a regular video and not a short
@@HooktOnCarolina I did that recently but I also had that video unlisted for a while. We'll see what happens I guess. I'll try to send UA-cam support an email too
@@matthewkenyonmusic good luck man. I know these things can be a pain
Sir VEVO and official artist channel how to merge please sir answer
Thank you for this video.
Do you need oac?
@@huryra_azam no
Well that’s kinda bs I got striked over tryna promote my own music on my main channel but I have removed them off my page but hopefully the merge works
Can you upload any video so that there is something on your channel, or does it have to be a video related to the release?
When i do this do i lose my topic channel views and subscribers? I basically just want to see the analytics of my topic page
What if the distributor says they are unable to help, can this be done by yourself?
Yes
If you already pay for distrubution, do you need to additionally pay the OAC? lmk
I do have a question! Our topic channel is called Mike Ginese and Dawn Ginese. Our YT channel is called MikeandDawn Ginese Music. Is it going to be possible to merge them? We applied in Nov and have not seen the little note yet. We distribute via CDbaby. Thanks
Thank you so much for this video, it is so helpful.
Please can i have your free UA-cam guide on how the Algorithm works?
Absolutely! Here is the link: www.indiemusicacademy.com/youtube-algorithm-free-guide
CD Baby is my distributor. UA-cam official artist channel was claimed through CD Baby, but topic channel and artist channel are not merged. No email ever arrived from UA-cam. Any info or feedback on how this “merge” is supposed to happen or why it hasn’t?
I did upload self made videos using the same WAV files that were submitted to CD Baby. Is this the required video upload?? Any help is appreciated.
How do i see the analytics of my Topic page?
Hey! So, I've never uploaded this album to any other aggregator; it's totally new. My UA-cam channel is already an OAC, though. If I distribute this new release through LANDR, will I be able to claim it on my UA-cam channel?
will the video just get added to my channel or can the videos be combined? and if they can be combined, does it matter that i changed the drums a bit?
Question:
When you release a song, an audio is generated for you that goes to your topic channel and you have to upload another video of the song manually. How to get rid of this and release one song or music video that goes into the release tab and on your profile
the only question i have is how many stage names can someone register with a performance rights organization such as more thanstage names for one single artist.
I have 3 registered with ASCAP. It was a very simple process.
I need some help !
Please help me
Hi sir I have submitted Three of my songs to youtube music and they are now live. I have just created my own youtube channel and as you said I have also uploaded my songs in it. Now I am making this my channel. I want to upgrade my Artist channel but when I click on "special access" and apply for the UA-cam artist channel as per your instructions, there is no option to apply for UA-cam, please help me. I am also sending an attachment to I will wait for your reply
Your free PDF is not specific for the creation of a music content. It’s generic information. Since you’re in the music business, I figured it would be tailored to the topic.
Thanks for the feedback, I understand where you’re coming from.
I got a iPhone have do I a contact the accounts or I can’t?
Great and compact video, everything I wanted to know regarding this matter. I was wondering and this might be a foolish question, but will my distributor automatically create an account for each streaming platform I choose for it to distribute to, or do I need to make an account for all the streaming platforms I’m distributing to and then link my distributor to them somehow? I might be missing something, but I don’t know how this works
The act of distribution establishes all your artist profiles on streaming platforms such as Spotify Apple Music and Amazon music. So you don’t need to create them. After you distribute however, you do need to claim access to the profiles your distributor creates by going to Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists (just google it and it should come up)
@@IndieMusicAcademy okay, this helps, thanks!
Great. Thanks!!
Ok but why can’t people subscribe to your channel anymore once it’s an oac ?? I’m so confused
They can still subscribe
sad that soundcloud isnt one of the supported services lol
Why would any music artists use SoundCloud because that's audio when you can sell your music video 25,000 copies and have a gold record nobody should be recording music and audio because it's outdated nothing beats music video but remember you have to sell your music direct and get 25,000 sold and you have a gold video stop recording music in audio
@DIGITALTRADEMUSIC cuz we not as smart as you mane 🤣
cool
help! i link my topic and main channel and now my stats are all messed up on my videos that aren’t music related! is there anyway i can unlink the topic and main?
I had my music monetised and after a year a topic channel took over my content and i can nolonger monetize it 😢
My question is, how to change verified artist yt channel to new email? Someone please let me know 😢
Help needed--I was with CD Baby for years, and I'd claimed my official artist channel on YT via CD Baby. 6 months ago I started going with Landr. I'm not switching my old content from CD Baby to Landr...just using Landr from this point forward. Problem is--CD Baby's topic page is merged with my official artist channel and all my releases with Landr are going to a separate, unmerged topic channel...which means that "Releases" on my YT channel are not being updated. Landr support says that I have to make a new artist channel and request through Landr to make it my official page. Obviously I can't do that; I'm not scrapping my entire channel to start over with a new channel. So how the heck do I merge my youtube channel with Landr without reinventing the wheel? Can't I keep my already established youtube channel and just get synced up with Landr somehow?
Same here, ever since I switched from CDBaby, every upload from a different distributor goes to a separate channel. I guess your only option would be to re-upload all your new releases thru the distributor who originally helped claim your official artist channel (CDbaby in that case). Not an option for me, since I switched labels, and the other one has their own digital distributor. Honestly it's a mess, UA-cam should really come up with something better.
@@Ovfrost yeah...unfortunately I need an unlimited upload subscription plan, which CDB doesn't have. And idk--if I take all the CDB releases down & re-release with Landr--what happens then? Do I have to re-claim my OAC? Will everything magically merge? What happens to the CDB topic channel? Etc.
Now that people are using multiple distributors, I agree--something needs to change to keep up with common current consumer practices. People shouldn't be penalized for using more than one distributor & it should not be so hard to get a rep with a distributor who knows how to help.
@KittykoMusic I actually did what you mentioned, I re-uploaded the music originally released with CDB via another distributor, along with a new release. It didn't help - the 3 CDB releases are still on my channel, but the 4th album is not, even though they are all uploaded thru one distributor now. So yeah, it's really not artist-friendly rn, in my opinion.
Also facing the same issue here. I hope there's a solution for that. I'm holding off my album release because all my singles went to this Topic after changing distributors.
Oh
How am I verified? 🧐
Just to check, has anyone seen the music badge on my channel?
He never showed us how to merge the channel 😂
I think I succeeded?
..
うんうんつうん