Artist’s guide to earning money from YouTube channel memberships

Thanks to a handy feature on YouTube, fans are now able to support the channels of their favorite artist via monthly ‘channel membership’ fees. Here, we look at how you can earn money from this feature.

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of the Symphonic Blog

On YouTube, channel memberships let your viewers support your channel through monthly payments in exchange for member-only perks. Not sure how to get started? We’ll break it down right here…

How To Earn Money With YouTube Channel Memberships

Here’s the rundown…

If you’ve never heard of channel memberships, they’re a way for creators to engage more deeply with their audience that purchase monthly memberships. In addition, it helps creators like you earn more money at the same time. Viewers make monthly payments in exchange for access to exclusive badges, custom emojis, and other perks that you can decide.

What’s not to love?

Benefits

If you’re an artist looking to connect with your audience or provide behind-the-scenes/VIP content to your most dedicated fans, channel memberships are a great way to do that. With it, you have the freedom to decide what kinds of perks you want to offer depending on what’s best for your brand.

• For example, if you and your fans have inside jokes, you can work those into custom emoji’s. On the other hand, you can post unreleased clips from the making of your latest music video or ask for direct feedback on an idea you’ve been working on from members in the Community tab.

Whatever you want to do, this feature is a great way to easily provide another level to your fan engagement. — It’s more personal, exclusive, and can earn you some extra money on the side to put towards making more content in the future, from music videos and new merch drops to recording studio time, touring, and more.

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Feed yo’ brain…

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How does it work?

Your membership program can have up to 5 different memberships levels. According to YouTube’s Creator Academy, there are some important aspects to note before diving in head first.

• Each level has to have 1-5 perks.
• Members at higher levels are automatically eligible for perks you offer at lower levels.
• You can add or remove a membership level at any time. However, when a level is removed all recurring payments by members in that tier will be cancelled.
• You can set different prices for each level and offer different perks at each price (see here for price points per country).

Ready to try it out?

To set up Channel Memberships follow these steps:

• Head to the monetization tab in Studio to turn on memberships. If membership isn’t available yet, check the eligibility criteria and apply for access.
• Next, submit your perks, badges and emojis for approval. This usually takes about 24 hours.

Pro Tip: Avoid offering perks that will take more of your time to deliver as you get more members. — If you don’t know how to design badges and emojis, talk to someone who does or consider using 3rd party sites like Fiverr or Upwork.

• Make an intro video. For tips, check out this video.
• Choose the pricing for each level.
• Publish the “Join” button to your page.
• Build excitement with an announcement video to introduce memberships to your community.
• Plan to keep promoting memberships. You can thank members at the end of your videos or even add cards.
• Be patient! Building a robust membership program takes time and effort.

In Conclusion…

There are some eligibility requirements in order to implement channel memberships on your page, so be sure to check those out here. If you’re all set and ready to go, congrats! This is a great feature for artists, especially those who have a dedicated fanbase and are in need of something extra to offer as a special thank you for their undying love.

If you don’t know already, YouTube’s Creator Academy is an amazing resource for anyone looking to sharpen their skills of the platform and learn more about all the dope features they have to offer. (There’s even a course on Channel Memberships, which you can check out right here.)

In the meantime, good luck, be creative, and get to work!