Business News Digital Education & Events The Great Escape 2016

CMU@TGE Previews: Getting more from YouTube

By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 22 April 2016

Four weeks today new music festival The Great Escape will be underway, as will CMU Insights @ The Great Escape, the conference that sits at the heart of the convention programme. Unlike most other music industry conferences, CMU@TGE focuses on just four topics, presenting a full day of content around each theme with a mixture of talks, case studies, interviews and debates.

Each day in the CMU Daily in the run up to this year’s Great Escape, Business Editor Chris Cooke will preview a different session, explaining the thinking behind it. First in the line for previewing, the sessions that form the full-day strand ‘What if YouTube actually is the future?’, taking place on the Thursday, 19 May, in Dukes @ Komedia 2…

With YouTube so often the subject of music industry griping these days, it’s easy to forget that, for many artists and labels, Google’s video platform is still a key marketing channel and, for some, a useful extra revenue stream too, particularly when it comes to generating income from music exploited in user-generated content.

Which is why, with the obvious exception of GEMA, many artists, labels, publishers and collecting societies continue to use the YouTube site. And to do deals with the Google company, despite all the griping and the concurrent lobbying efforts to change copyright law so to force YouTube’s hand into signing licensing deals more favourable to the music community.

But are those artists, labels, publishers and collecting societies getting the absolute most out of YouTube, its audience and its technology? Despite – and, actually, because of – the licensing issues and royalty rate disagreements, those who decide that YouTube is still an important channel for them should probably make sure that they are using the platform to its fullest effect. Which is what our CMU@TGE session ‘Getting more from YouTube’ is all about, with three experts set to get on stage and share their insights.

First, the spotlight will fall on Content ID, YouTube’s much discussed content management set-up which enables labels – and via the Melody ID system publishers – to track and manage their recordings and songs as they are uploaded to the video site, choosing to block or monetise that content. Rebecca Lammers from Laika Network knows all the ins and outs of the system, and will be talking us through how it works – and when it works – from both a label and publisher perspective.

Then we’ll look at the power of YouTube as both a marketing platform and a data platform, with Claire Mas from Communion Music Group bringing us up to speed on best practice and current trends when it comes to using YouTube for promotional purposes, and Chloé Julien from BandSquare running you through the analytics the platform offers, just to make sure everyone is tapping all the potential data that is available there.

Whatever your viewpoint on YouTube’s licensing model – safe harbours, mere conduits, value gap and all – it’s almost certainly true that the music industry can’t just ignore the video site, especially when working with new talent, so we might as well get as much out of it as we can. And ‘Getting more from YouTube’ should help with that.

This session takes place at 12.15pm on Thursday 19 May in Dukes@Komedia 2 as part of a whole day focused on YouTube and video online, hosted by Brittney Bean of Tracks2. You will find a full outline of the day here, plus look out for previews of the other sessions taking place as part of the strand in upcoming editions of the CMU Daily.

TGE delegates get access to all of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape and all the other festivities that take place over the three days of the festival – passes are £230 and available here. This year tickets are also available for just the convention side of the proceedings for £100 and those can be bought here.