You are a DJ uploading non-stop music mixes on YouTube, generating hundreds of thousands of views and watch hours that make you eligible for YouTube monetisation, except for one part: the content. You can’t get a penny from the monetised content on your channel because the music rights aren’t yours to monetise.
At a time when almost all artists are copyrighting their music, the frequently asked question of how a DJ can monetise content on their YouTube channel is likely to have no definitive answer, but rather to advise DJs on other ways to make money off their mixes.
In case you’re new to the field, here’s how it goes. DJ X creates a 20-minute nonstop mix featuring, let’s say, 10 songs from various artists and uploads it to YouTube. If all 10 songs are copyrighted and their publishers allow external monetisation (copyright claim) rather than takedowns (copyright strike), all revenue the mix generates will be split among the publishers based on the time each song has in the video.
What if some songs are not copyrighted? Still, even if only one song out of the10 is copyrighted, all the revenue the nonstop mix generates will be sent to that one publisher whose song is copyrighted. Good news! If only 1 of the 10 is copyrighted, you can trim it out using YouTube editor tools in YouTube Studio and keep the video’s revenue, as long as the remaining songs stay copyright claim-free.
I’m a big fan of these mixes sometimes, and can tell how easily they carry you through late-night hours of work. It’s just sad that the DJs who carefully put them together barely earn from the revenue they generate from the countless YouTube ads, but I thought of something.
Generating massive views and watch hours, as a DJ, you’ll have your YouTube channel monetised in the shortest time possible, alongside an ever-growing YouTube subscriber base.
With this, you could start creating non-copyrighted content such as YouTube DJ tutorials, sharing tips, reviewing DJ gear, and music commentary. I mean, you already have the subscribers, and your YouTube channel is highly favoured by the YouTube algorithm for its constantly playing mixes.
Still leveraging the subscription base, you could also start featuring emerging artists on your channel for a fee. This could be through YouTube channel collaborations for music videos, or directly featuring on songs. Another Selecta Jeff or DJ Khalid in the making.
The more popular your mixes get on YouTube and TikTok, by the way, the more you can capitalise on to get bookings in bars, clubs and events. What are YouTube royalties compared to a continuous stream of bookings every weekend?
You have the numbers. Your nonstop mixes hit millions of views on YouTube. That, my friend, is when you start charging artists who want to feature on your mixes. Though not every artist should be asked to pay, those better off without your mixes become the lever that promotes the ones you charge to feature.
Sounds like a lot? You still want YouTube royalties? Well, the only way you can make YouTube AdSense money from copyrighted music is by having music artists and their publishers whitelist your YouTube channel from copyright claims. This means that every artist whose song features in your mixes would need to whitelist your channel so you can keep all the royalties.
This is quite impossible, and very few will reply to that email or text, unless it’s a single-artist compilation mix and they are willing to whitelist your channel. That’s if all the music is under one publisher, such as TuneCore, that supports whitelisting. Please understand that these mixes pull views that some artists never get on their own channels, and it’s hard to convince them to whitelist.
Oh yeah, you could also sell the monetised YouTube channel. Many creators, music artists and businesses buy them at a good price.
