New YouTube features for music artists

Update: Added info on new feature for indie labels.

With 800 million people per month coming to YouTube, you have a pretty big stage to share your music, and now we’re adding features to also make YouTube your box office, merchandise table and music store.

The Merch Store
We’re launching a feature called the Merch Store that will allow YouTube partners to offer fans merchandise directly on your channel. Fans will be able to buy artists’ merchandise, digital downloads, concert tickets and even unique experiences like meetups. These features are made possible through affiliates like Topspin for merchandise, concert tickets and experiences; Songkick for concerts; and iTunes and Amazon for music downloads. We’ll be rolling out the Merch Store to music partners globally over the coming weeks, and here's an early look:

Online Indie Label Signups
We’ve also made a few changes to make it easier for indie labels to become YouTube partners and share revenue when their music is played, even in user generated content. The signup form is available here.

If you’d like to learn more, we’re hosting a panel on Thursday October 20 @ Noon ET at the Mercury Lounge in NYC, sharing stories with artists who’ve found success on YouTube. The lineup includes Dru Ha and Buckshot from Duck Down Music, Julia Nunes, Karmin, Portugal. the Man and Ryan Leslie, and an RSVP is available at the YouTube Creator blog.

Whether you’re the main event, the opener or jamming from your living room, we want to give you the chance to find an audience and make music your career on YouTube.

Christian Weitenberner, Senior Technical Account Manager, recently watched “Bust Your Knee Caps - Pomplamoose” and then “Bon Iver - Calgary.”