How to use YouTube Shorts as an artist

YouTube Shorts are short-form, vertical video content of 60 seconds or less, created using a smartphone and uploaded directly to YouTube from the YouTube app. Using YouTube’s built-in creation tools, you can film, edit, add music, add animated text, control the speed of your footage, and edit together multiple 15-second video clips to create your Shorts.

You can currently only make Shorts natively in the YouTube app. To gain access to the YouTube app, do the following:

- Login to your app store of choice (iOS App Store or Google Play) and search for YouTube

- Download the official YouTube app

- Login using your Google login or a separate YouTube login

Shorts have been introduced as a great way to allow new fans to discover you and use your music in their own videos. Billions of Shorts are being watched every day and as a new feature, YouTube are prioritising Shorts over other formats of videos on the platform. Within the app there are many places to discover Shorts, via music hashtags, on the YouTube homepage or in search.

You can see the platform as a great way to promote your own music. You can for instance post behind the scenes videos (from touring, studio sessions or photo shoots), share previews of upcoming songs (tip: add your pre-save link to the description of these teasers), add clips from your music videos, post acoustic sessions or covers of music you love, react to other music videos or performances on YouTube, etc.

If you deliver your music to YouTube via Make Waves, the track will become available in the music library to use for your own YouTube Shorts, along with a lot of other great music.

You can check out the YouTube channel of any artist you look up to, to gather inspiration for your own YouTube Shorts, see what type of content they're posting and what hash tags are being used.

More information on YouTube Shorts can be found here.