Since YouTube launched its YouTube for Artists site last year, it has continued to develop and grow the tools it provides artists and fans to both share and find music. New additions like Music Insights have brought greater transparency to the popularity and viewership of musicians on YouTube.
When Music Insights was first rolled out, it only offered data for a few select artists and locations. This alone provided some interesting insights, like Ed Sheeran’s popularity in the Philippines, but as more artist and geographical information become accessible, one can see even larger trends, like the lasting appeal of bachata. One particularly interesting Music Insight feature is the “Locally Popular” tab, which gives you weekly summaries of music that’s popular for a specific location compared to what’s popular across an entire country.
The latest addition to the YouTube for Artists page is the YouTube Music Charts, which since it was announced in March has provided a broader display of which tracks, artists and videos are most popular on YouTube as well as their view counts, weekly viewership change and time on the charts.
Although these are relatively new developments, they indicate that there may be bigger and better things on the horizon for fans and artists to use YouTube as a medium for discovering and sharing new music.