YouTube or VEVO Channel? Pros and cons, which one to choose

This article is to analyze the pros and cons of VEVO and YouTube and to help Artists and Labels choose the best VEVO and YouTube option.

We immediately specify that “VEVO is a branch of YouTube” and everything that is monetized through VEVO is reduced by about 50% compared to what is monetized through YouTube without going through VEVO.

Furthermore, on VEVO it is not possible:

Customize the channel home page: VEVO channels have playlists on the channel generated by VEVO with exclusively VEVO content; there is no way to choose or customize them. It is very probable that after one of your videos played on VEVO a LADY GAGA video can start in autoplay just because she is a VEVO artist and it will be very difficult that after a LADY GAGA video one of yours starts in autoplay;

Edit the tags independently: you should write to us (in this case Music Rails being the Digital Distributor of the artist or label that manages the VEVO channel) communicating the updated tags rather than a title update; we in turn write to VEVO (yes, because VEVO no longer accepts communications from Artists and Labels but it is always the Digital Distributor who communicates with them) communicating everything and VEVO – with its timing – publishes the tags and in general the edit requests;
Change the channel graphics independently: also in this case you have to follow the same procedure as in the previous point;
Moderate comments autonomously: also in this case you have to follow the same process as for tags, with the addition that it is VEVO that chooses whether a comment you marked as inappropriate is really such. In fact, if for VEVO the comment is only “a comment” and not “an offensive comment” that comment cannot be removed;
Slow timing: the opening of a YouTube channel is, as you know, almost immediate and through the Digital Distribution with Music Rails you are able to monetize the audio portion of uploaded content from day zero of its publication because you are going to circumvent the requirements of the YouTube’s Program Partner*** for self-monetization. With VEVO, the opening times of the channel extend for weeks and these times are dictated by VEVO not by the Digital Distributor. L’apertura di un canale VEVO richiede fino a 3 settimane ed il caricamento di un video su VEVO può richiedere fino a 7 giorni lavorativi; inoltre the opening of the VEVO channel is not certain and it is the same VEVO team that must verify the “need” and “characteristics” of the artist to approve the opening (press, social links, audience and sales numbers in the store and in general his presence on the web);
Inability to comment: with VEVO it is impossible to use your channel to comment on other contents and this penalizes the YouTube algorithm which sees a channel able to publish but not to interact.

If, despite all these limitations, you need to have video content uploaded to VEVO and not to YouTube, you can request its opening by sending an email to social@music-rails.com specifying “vevo channel opening request” as the subject and also inserting the name of the VEVO channel in the body of the email, which usually corresponds to the name of the artist followed by VEVO in capital letters.

For example, the hypothetical VEVO channel of the artist “Sandro Bani” will be SandroBaniVEVO.

We remind you that opening a VEVO channel through Music Rails is only possible if it is distributed by Music Rails and only if the VEVO store accepts your request.

If you want to know more about Digital Distribution, the monetization of video content published on YouTube channels that do not meet Google’s requirements to become part of the YouTube Partner Program, do not hesitate to contact us and/or visit our dedicated page.

***To join the YouTube Partner Program, your channel must have at least 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. Your channel will also be reviewed to ensure it complies with YouTube’s monetization policies.