For a very long time, YouTube has been considered the best platform for video content, and Twitch was the king of game streaming. However, YouTube is now catching up on the streaming field with their quite well functioning and user-friendly live feature. Both platforms offer opportunities for marketing music. Today, we will investigate the pros and cons to understand which of the two is a better choice for music promotion. 

Of course, many other platforms are perfect for helping you take your music to a wider audience. So before diving deeper into the differences between YouTube and Twitch, make sure to check MusicPromoToday’s blog about the 3 Essential Platforms That Changed The Music Industry & Will 10X Your Engagement in 2021. It will help you understand the social media trends behind music promotion and keep your music marketing game high. Now, back to Twitch and YouTube! 

YouTube

Even without an explicit focus on music, YouTube is still the biggest music platform in the world.

Pros: 

  • More music is played on YouTube than on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal combined
  • Free
  • Top-notch recommendations
  • Tailored suggestions
  • Solid artists rising to the top via YouTube, including Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes
  • Visuals along songs to better set the mood; renaissance for music videos 
  •   Concrete guidelines 

Cons:

  • The amount of other content can distract from the music 
  • Promoting music through recommendations is tough as the YouTube algorithm is like God and religion; many specialists claim to have the answers, but it is impossible to prove any of them right or wrong. You can read about YouTube’s algorithm’s details in The Toxicity of YouTube’s New Algorithm, TikTok’s Uncertain Future, Instagram Reels & Virtual Events
  • Creating YouTube content is not cheap: YouTube is filled with diverse, entertaining content, so even though uploading a video is free, to make your content pop-out and grab the users’ attention, you need to spend money on production 
  •  Takes a 30% cut of all Superchats

Resolution:

Even though people usually don’t give YouTube enough credit as a music discovery platform, it still is heavily used by music marketers as it is a great supplementary tool for both consumers and creators. It is a perfect choice for new artists to share covers and some tracks of their own works with YouTube’s huge user base. Yet, later in the career, the platform is more beneficial when used as a complementary tool alongside other platforms with a specific focus on music. Learn more about succeeding on YouTube as a music artist with Music Video YouTube Premieres: How To Make Money On YouTube With SuperChats. 

 Twitch.TV

Twitch is undoubtedly one of the best streaming platforms and promoting music via Twitch.TV is totally different than marketing music on YouTube, as in this case, the concentration has to be on live communication. 

Pros:

  • Nothing luring a viewer away from what they’re watching
  • Twitch allows and encourages third-party developers to create plugins for streamers that enhance the viewer/streaming experience
  • Twitch bits will go straight to the streamer at a 1-1 ratio of 1 bit = $0.01 (cut ranges from 40% on a $1 bits package down to 19% on a $250 package)

Cons:

  • Little to no discoverability built-in to the platform
  • Vague and unclear guidelines difficult to understand
  • No ultra-low latency

Resolution:

Twitch became a brand for streamers while YouTube is relatively new to the streaming industry, yet it has the most solid user and follower base. Twitch is a perfect choice for interactive music marketing and making artists accessible and connected to their audience. 

Conclusion

Both YouTube and Twitch are the platforms where you need to be to become a known content creator. Your content is your music, so don’t let the platforms’ main focuses disturb you as they are big enough to have targets for any market. Considering that music is one of the most consumed types of content, marketing it on nearly any promotional platform can be beneficial. Consider using Twitch for more informal and laid back communication with the audience and use YouTube for sharing music along with great visual content. 

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