Every month, over 1 billion unique visitors flock to YouTube, reaching more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable network. That’s a pretty big stage to share your music and reach new fans. Savvy music marketers know that by leveraging many of the video giant’s interactive features, you can easily build your fanbase, raise funds, sell merch and much more. Recently, YouTube shared it will replace annotations with YouTube Cards, which now works on both desktop and mobile by overlaying text (and images) in a Google Now-like format.

As we announced in 2013, we are continuing our efforts to drive concert-goers to your tour dates from one of the largest networks of music consumption and discovery online. Bandsintown is an approved retailer on YouTube, which means your band will be able to direct every person who views your videos straight to your tour dates page to buy tickets to your upcoming shows – a great example of social commerce in action!

Sweet, how does it work?

YouTube Cards are small, rectangular-shaped cards that appear to the right of the video, and can be accessed with just a click. The links direct viewers to related videos or websites from a list of eligible sites – Bandsintown being one. Here are examples of how you can use this to promote your band:  

• Never Miss A Show! Track us on Bandsintown (insert your custom URL www.bandsintown.com/track/YOURARTISTNAME)

• Link to specific show dates

• Link to your Tour Dates tab on Facebook or your Tour Dates Widget on your website

To get started, follow these easy steps to add a merchandise card and link to any Bandsintown URL. Once completed, your Bandsintown tour dates will automatically appear during your YouTube videos. 

Rock on!

-The Bandsintown Team