Thanks to our intern Talla Ansari for the following article.

We have long known that you can make some extra coin on Youtube, but understanding the simplicity behind this process may help new musicians in claiming what is rightfully theirs.

As was the case for Scott Scheer, whose songs trended as background music to many hit videos on Youtube, a comfortable income was being generated once he sought to find the “money that already existed.”  As a result, Scott makes $30K a month.  It was with the help of Audium, a recently launched business helping musicians, songwriters and the like to claim their share of the revenue Youtube makes through advertising, that made it all possible for Scott.

The whole process behind gaining advertisement to back your videos on Youtube seems almost too simple and easy to be true.  After creating an account with Youtube and uploading entertaining videos (which is no doubt subjective), you need to gain an audience.  You can get an enormous audience and following through a “one-hit-wonder” that goes viral, or have a consistent stream of quality content being uploaded under your account name.  Either way, once you have a steady audience exceeding the thousands, you can become a Youtube partner, which is free to join and creates your very own channel.  Youtube wants popular and successful partners with constantly viewed channels and videos where advertisers will invest.  To gain investment you need to, surprise surprise, create yet another account but now with Google Adsene.  A click on your video only makes you a small amount of money, the bigger dollar signs live in actual ad clicks.

Major records labels and music publishers are pouncing on this money making scheme by ensuring deals with Youtube where licencing fees are paid for when artists’ material appears on videos on the site.

It would be wise for musicians to consider this avenue as another means to procure some extra money considering the industry is getting tougher with the introduction of more music sharing profiles such as Spotify.  Why not follow this virtual map that leads you to what Audium deemed “buried treasure.” After all, look at Gotye’s music video success.