Youtube with its recent acquisiton of the music startup BandPage aims to attract more musicians towards its platform. As just another weapon in its arsenal, YouTube is fast becoming a central platform for creatives of all kinds i.e. filmakers, video bloggers, singers and music artists. This move will pinch music platforms like SoundCloud and Shazam whose users will naturally want to switch over to the world’s more popular platform and where monetization is much easier.
BandPage began as an app in 2009 that allowed musicians to create a special Music tab on their Facebook Page. But when Facebook shut down these Page apps in 2012, BandPage suddenly lost 90% of its traffic in 3 months. It went from 32 million monthly users to just a few million in a matter of months. It was the second most popular Facebook developer after Zynga.
BandPage then revamped its platform and allowed artists to offer merchandise online at Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Shazam, Google, Youtube and more. It lets creators to upload their profile, bio, pictures, videos, tracks and tour dates. And BandPage then updates that information across the web – Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, VEVO, Microsoft Groove, the creator’s website, and more, and helps them grow their fanbase and increase revenue as a result.
It claims to have more than 500,000 musicians on its platform, including Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Rihanna and John Legend etc, and sells their music to hundreds of millions of fans online. After this, it was a only a matter of time when YouTube became interested in it.
YouTube only recently launched YouTube Red, an ad-free subscription service and a YouTube Music App, which is not available in Pakistan at the moment. This shows that YouTube is planning for the long-term and commits to become a music platform too besides a video platform.
Five years down the road, YouTube may also launch more tools like advanced video and music creation and editing features that will attract more artists. It may also allow artists to license their music online and earn handsome money.
Featured image via: androidheadlines.com
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