YouTube Monetization
Get YouTube Content ID from iMusician and make money from your music on YouTube, no matter how many plays or subscribers your channel has.
How YouTube Content ID works
It’s never been easier to tap into YouTube as a revenue stream. With YouTube Content ID, monetize your content and get paid when someone uses your music in their video.
Generate ad revenue for every ad displayed on your YouTube videos.
Collect royalties and earn money when someone uses your music in their YouTube video.
Add your own YouTube channel to your allowlist, in order to keep control over your channel.
Collect the YouTube money you deserve
"iMusician is a unique music distribution company that specializes in the kind of careful, conscious, hands-on involvement with the artists they distribute in a way that is uber rare in today's climate. In a saturated world where putting out independent music can be daunting and overwhelming; the young, hip, passionate, personable, and approachable music-marketing-guru iMusician staff make putting out music a career building adventure."
Danielle Duval
Canada
"I had a few email exchanges with the French managers of iMusician who guided me through the first months for my releases. They gave me the necessary tools to succeed from the start and after some months, I quickly understood that it was possible to make a living from my music"
DLJ
"Working with iMusician felt good for us right from the start, so we release our music exclusively through iMusician. We have a personal contact person who knows our music and requirements very well and who supports us professionally at all times."
Planeta
Germany
"iMusician fits our dynamic release strategy, has a team of competent professionals and impresses with a reliable and transparent service."
Baba Shrimps
Switzerland
"It's important for me to know the people I'm working with, even more if they distribute my music. That's what I like with iMusician: the team is very friendly and their door is always open to help artists, receive feedback, and enhance their services."
Odyssee
France
"After floating between several different distributors, I was delighted to discover iMusician! Their interface looks great and is incredibly easy to use. Their customer support is brilliant - I've received quick, friendly and helpful responses every single time. The one-off payment model means my music stays in stores forever without having to worry about yearly subscription fees. Overall, I have felt supported and positive throughout the whole process."
Newmaj
Monetize on Youtube
Make the modern music landscape work for you. Feel empowered, get support, and grow your career.
Explore for free
Create a free account today and see why more than 200,000 independent artists and labels trust iMusician to sell and monetize their music online. No credit card required.
Reach fans all over the world
Free, quick, and easy set up
Personal support in 6 languages within 1 working day
Sell and stream your music on 200+ online shops, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Beatport, Deezer, Traxsource, and more
Pay only once per release, no recurring fee*
Release with our label for free (or create your own label)
Promote your release with a power suite of tools
*This does not include our Pro Unlimited subscription plan, which is billed annually.
FAQs
How can we help you?
YouTube Content ID is YouTube’s automated system that enables copyright owners to find videos where their music has been used without permission, so that the copyright owner can monetize those videos. Content ID is only available for people who meet YouTube’s threshold -- but because iMusician is a YouTube partner, we take care of this for you. Simply choose which tracks you want to monetize, and we will submit them to YouTube on your behalf. Then, if someone uses your copyrighted song in their video, you will earn money.
Content ID is available in all of iMusician’s distribution packages.
Videos uploaded to YouTube are scanned against a database of files that have been submitted by content owners such as iMusician. Copyright owners get to decide what happens when content in a video on YouTube matches a work they own. When a match is found, the video gets a Content ID claim.
On the iMusician platform you can choose which tracks you want to monetize. YouTube makes a fingerprint of the eligible tracks, and it is sent out over their entire system to find videos where your music is used. We will submit eligible tracks to YouTube and the YouTube Content ID system will identify your sound recordings and ad revenue. The revenue will be collected by us from YouTube and will be deposited in your iMusician account monthly.
Normally you would need 1000+ subscribers and 4000 watch hours to sign up for Content ID with YouTube — with iMusician, you can make money on YouTube from any video that contains your copyrighted sound recordings, regardless of your subscriber or view count.
If your channel already has 1000+ subscribers and 4000 watch hours, you may be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube Content ID from iMusician allows you to earn money and generate ad revenue from any video content on YouTube that contains your copyrighted sound recordings.
The YouTube Partner program allows you to monetize your YouTube channel by generating ad revenue from YouTube advertisements, channel subscriptions, YouTube Premium, chat stickers, and merch promotion. You are only eligible for the YouTube Partner program if your channel has 1000+ subscribers and 4000 watch hours.
The simplest way to monetize your music on YouTube is with Content ID from iMusician, which you can opt-into on any of our distribution plans, regardless of your subscriber or view count.
However, if you already have an established YouTube channel that meets the four requirements below, you may be eligible to generate another revenue stream via acceptance into the YouTube Partner Program:
You must have 1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel
Your videos must have 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months
Your channel and content must comply with YouTube's policies and guidelines
You must have a Google AdSense account set up
After becoming a partner, YouTube advertisements will be placed on videos you upload and you will be able to monetize your content based on how many views the videos receive.
YouTube constantly monitors channels in its partner program to see whether they continue to meet their policies and guidelines, so once you are accepted, be sure to keep yourself informed to avoid any issues.
Once you opt-in to Content ID with iMusician, YouTube’s Content ID matching system will begin searching for all the videos across the platform that are using your sound recordings.
If a video that contains your copyrighted sound recording is uploaded to YouTube after your music has been released with iMusician, it is usually monetized within one or two days after the upload.
If a video that contains your copyrighted sound recording is uploaded to YouTube before your music has been released with iMusician, this process can take longer, sometimes more than a month, as YouTube’s matching system searches new videos and the most popular videos that contain your content first.
Once you have Content ID activated, you can make money on YouTube from videos that contain your copyrighted content. YouTube will automatically generate claims against other user's uploaded content that is considered a match.
Remember: not all content is eligible for Content ID.
Some examples of ineligible content:
- Recordings containing uncleared samples
- Recordings based on free beats or any other publicly available sound files
- Compilations, unless you have explicit permission from all artists appearing on that compilation
- Music that’s released under a Creative Commons license
- Recordings exclusively made with sample libraries (such as Magix Music Maker, GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, FL Studio)
- Sufficiently indistinct or soundalike content (like karaoke recordings or remasters)
- Content that may be generic enough to cause false Content ID matches
You can check Youtube's official guidelines here.
Please note that if we can't deliver your tracks to the Content ID program, we will return the paid amount in promotional credits.
We don’t upload any videos to YouTube. In order to get your videos on YouTube, please upload them yourself through your channel on YouTube. If you have ordered YouTube Content ID for your release, we will monetise the video on your behalf once it’s uploaded.
With YouTube Content ID from iMusician you can monetize any video that is uploaded to YouTube that contains your copyrighted music, including videos on your own YouTube channel.
However, if you prefer not to have your YouTube channel monetized by us or prefer to monetize the channel yourself, you can exclude (allowlist) your own channel so only revenue coming from third party uploads are monetized by iMusician.
In this case, please send us an email with the link to your channel.
Email: yt.allowlist@iMusician.pro
Subject: Allowlist
Adding channels to your allowlist can be a benefit for artists who don't want ads placed in front of their videos on their personal channel.
If you don't want YouTube to place ads on your videos, you can add your channel or specific videos to your allowlist so that YouTube’s Content ID system doesn't create a copyright claim for that content.
You might also establish a relationship with another channel and clear them to use your content. In this case, you would add their channel to your allowlist in order to protect them from automated Content ID claims.
If you’d like to add your YouTube channel to your allowlist because you prefer to monetize your channel yourself, please keep in mind that in order to monetize your channel without iMusician you must first meet these requirements in order to be eligible:
You must have 1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel
Your videos must have 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months
Your channel and content must comply with YouTube's policies and guidelines
You must have a Google AdSense account set up
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