In this article i’m going to show you that it is possible to get the Community tab with less than 1000 subscribers on Youtube. However, i’m probably going to upset some of you coming here in the process by what I need to tell you before letting you read the rest of this article.
EDIT 12th Sept 2021: Youtube have changed the eligibility requirements for the community tab to 500 subscribers and indicate they will reduce it further to all channels some time in the future. So by the time you read this article you may already have it and this article will be useless. Sorry 😕
You need to be a musical artist.
Youtube will probably lower the threshold at some point for everyone else. But at this precise moment in time you will have to wait. Unless you are a musicial artist.
What you need to do to get the community tab.
In order to get the community tab with less than 1000 subscribers you will need to turn your channel into an Official Artist Channel.
This will require merging your Youtube topic channels that contain your music into your main channel.
Your top channel will be named something like “Artist Name – Topic”.
These channels are automatically created by Youtube to list your musical works add by your label or distributor.
How do I merge my topic channel with my main channel?
You can do this in three ways.
- Get Youtube to do it for you.
- Get your label/manager to do it for you.
- Do it yourself through your distributor
Personally I wouldn’t recommend number 1. I’ve heard of some artists getting frustrated with this method. And it requires sending emails back and forth with information. Time consuming.
If you are on a label then they might have a better chance of getting it done quicker as they will have all the information needed.
However, if you use a distributor things have become much easier and faster.
It is just a matter of logging into your account on your distributors website and finding the option to link your Youtube channel to your artist.
Below will be a list of distributors that have an option for this. If you know of a distributor that gives this option then let me know.
- CD Baby: https://members.cdbaby.com/YouTubeOfficialArtistChannels
- Distrokid: https://distrokid.com/YouTubeOfficialArtistChannels/
How Long Will I Have To Wait For The Community Tab To Appear?
Once your channel has become an Official Artist Channel it won’t take long before the community tab appears. Be patient, it will be with you soon.
For me it took 1 – 2 days, but be patient as it may take you a little longer.