At last year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), YouTube launched its Musicians Wanted program, which allows up-and-coming musicians to apply to become partners of the video-sharing site, thereby reaping the benefits of advertising and exposure.
Back then, only U.S. artists could apply, but YouTube announced today via its blog that the Partner Program is now extending beyond the U.S. to Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., Sweden, the Czech Republic, Argentina and New Zealand. So if you live somewhere in that vicinity, head on over to the signup page now.
There’s no doubt that initiatives like YouTube’s Musicians Wanted program have created a lot of new opportunities for artists who would have otherwise gone unheard.
At a panel at music festival CMJ today in New York City, YouTube’s Music Manager Michele Flannery took the stage to speak on a panel about building an audience online, where she discussed the power of the video-sharing site: “It’s artist discovery, it’s people who love music, it’s sharing things that people like and want to get out,” she said. “When you get to YouTube it just expands it in another direction, further…. It makes the world a larger place and democratizes it.”
Julia Nunes is just one artist who has benefited from the power of YouTube. A member of the Partner Program, this ukulele-playing songstress leveraged the site to play with the likes of Ben Folds and Ben Kweller. How?
“I found that niche thing that people were interested in — and that was the ukulele,” Nunes said on today’s panel.
Do you have a niche talent that you think the YouTube audience would dig? International folks — do you plan to join the Partner Program? Let us know in the comments, and then point us in the direction of your jams.
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