Want your URL to match your channel?

When Tati joined YouTube, her username was GlamLifeGuru, which made her channel’s URL youtube.com/GlamLifeGuru. But as her channel grew, her fans embraced “Tati” as her brand. So her channel web address -- often the quickest way back for her fans to watch more of her content -- didn’t match her channel name and branding.

To make sure creators like Tati and all of you have a consistent place for new and existing fans to find you, we’re introducing an easier way to pick custom URLs that match your channel names and branding.

Starting this week, if you’re a creator with at least 500 subscribers, you may receive emails and in-product notifications if your updated custom URL is ready to claim. You’ll see several options waiting for you that are based on your channel’s description, Google identity and associated websites. When you want to pick your URL, all you have to do is follow these instructions. Once you pick one, the new URL will automatically direct fans to your channel.

Don’t have 500 subscribers yet? Try these tips to spur your growth. And don’t worry, in the meantime your regular URL will continue to connect people to your YouTube channel.

Laura Rapin, Product Specialist, recently watched Lemonade - Alex Boye’

What YouTube’s new music features mean for artists

As artists, creators, composers, remixers and directors, you’ve been at the forefront of making YouTube the ultimate home for music.  After nine years of unforgettable music moments you’ve created -- Kutiman, Beliebers, “Gangnam Style” and countless others -- we’re more committed than ever to making the music experience on YouTube better for you and your fans. That’s why today we’re launching new music features that will help your fans discover and enjoy more of your music and rolling out the beta of our new subscription service, YouTube Music Key.

Starting today, all music fans will see a new home just for music on their YouTube app for Android, iOS and on YouTube.com. The music homepage will make it easier for fans to find their favorite music videos (including yours!) and discover new ones through personalized recommendations, trending playlists and playlists to perfectly fit their mood. What’s more, starting in the USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Finland and Ireland, we’re launching the beta of our new music subscription service, YouTube Music Key, which gives subscribers access to ad-free music, background play and offline viewing. For artists, we believe the easier it is for fans to find and enjoy your music on YouTube -- anytime, anywhere -- the more opportunity you’ll have to build your fan bases and make money from your music.

If you’re wondering if your music is included in the YouTube Music Key beta, you should talk with your record label or distributor. If you're an artist sharing your music directly through YouTube and you’re interested in being a part of the subscription service, you can let us know with this form. We’re excited about this new music experience on YouTube, and we’re continuing to bring on more artists in the coming months.

With all these new features, all our best practices still apply for growing your audience on YouTube. So keep creating great music, curating awesome playlists and mixtapes, and continue to share your music with the world. Because if we’ve learned anything over the past nine years, it’s that your creativity is limitless.

The YouTube Music team recently watched “Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - YouTube Mix.”

SiriusXM and YouTube up the tempo with the YouTube EDM 15

Since we launched The YouTube 15 on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 radio with host Jenna Marbles, millions of you have tuned in to hear your favorite established artists like Ariana Grande and new stars like George Ezra. The YouTube 15 even brought Jimmy Fallon and will.i.am’s Ew! to the radio (which eventually hit the Billboard Hot 100). 

Now we’re picking up the tempo with our second show powered by your YouTube views and programmed by SiriusXM: the YouTube EDM 15 on BPM, SiriusXM’s dance and remix channel.

This weekly show will highlight breakout electronic dance tracks and remixes from emerging DJs and artists around the world, and it’ll all kick off on Friday, November 21. Rising EDM DJ duo The Chainsmokers will host the show, with other notable guest DJs dropping in during the weeks to come.

The YouTube EDM 15 will air each week Fridays at 5 p.m. PT and again Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, Sunday at 5 a.m. PT, Monday at 7 p.m. PT, and Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT on SiriusXM’s BPM/channel 51, the SiriusXM app or online at siriusxm.com.

Michael Kauffman, YouTube Creator Marketing, recently watched “Victory.”

Become a master at production

We know you work hard on your awesome YouTube videos—and it’s our job to get you the resources you need to make them even better. Now you can become a creative master of production with exclusive tips from a professional director of photography in just four free workshops. Join your fellow creators and tune in to a live series on the YouTube Creator Academy channel from 10am-12pm PST where we’ll cover these topics:

• 11/13: Technical camera and sound—camera basics and sound recording principles
• 11/20: Lighting fundamentals—an introduction to lighting sets and subjects
• 11/27: Cinematography—a more advanced side of shooting beautiful looking films
• 12/4: Shoestring production—how to create studio quality films on a tight budget

If you attend all of the sessions, you'll not only be a production expert in no time, but you’ll also receive a shiny letter of completion.

Register now, and we'll let you know all the details.

Anna Gradil recently watched Wheel of Impressions with Kevin Spacey

Spreading the love to your collaborators

So many of you have turned the video description into your collaborator credit reel, sharing the love of all the other creators that helped make your video awesome. The shout-out is cool, but what if that shout-out was a direct link to your collaborator’s channel and made it easy for new fans to subscribe?

At VidCon, we told you how we’re working on areas like this to help you build fan bases and make even better videos, one of the ways being announcing Creator Credits. These allow you to recognize contributions and collaborators on your YouTube videos, and today, we're expanding this feature to all channels with at least 10,000 subscribers.

With Creator Credits, you’ll have the ability to feature collaborators -- such as your co-star, your video editor, or your boom mic operator -- on your video page. There are dozens of roles to choose from, and you can feature as many contributors as you like. These credits link back to collaborators’ channels and have a one-click subscribe option to both channels.

Adding Creator Credits to a video is easy. When editing your video title, description, and other details, you’ll find a Video Credits section where you can select the roles of your collaborators and include their channels. Creator Credits will appear below your video’s description after clicking “Show more.” Visit our Help Center to learn more.

Don’t have 10,000 subscribers? We're working to make this feature available to more of you soon.

Cheng Lee, Software Engineer, recently watched Cats Can't Resist Sitting In Circles

YouTube Space @ Instituto Criar welcomes creators in Brazil

Brazilians form one of the world’s most vibrant YouTube communities. They produce content for passionate audiences in a country where online consumption is amongst the highest in the world. To support this incredible community of YouTube creators and foster the next generation of Brazilian talent, the YouTube Space team has partnered with Instituto Criar to bring a YouTube Space to São Paulo.

Instituto Criar is an incredible non profit organization founded ten years ago by Luciano Huck that educates young students from low income families in film production. Through this partnership, all of the NGO’s students, as well as Brazil’s most talented YouTube creators, will have free access to high end audio, visual and editing equipment, in addition to training programs, workshops and courses.

This collaboration follows in the footsteps of our YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and most recently, New York City. Since the first Space was launched in 2012, more than 30,000 people around the world have attended over 450 workshops and over 6,000 videos have been created; garnering over 750 million views.

Like all of our production facilities, YouTube Space @ Instituto Criar will be a place where creators can collaborate, innovate and experiment with new content for audiences around the world to watch and love. It’ll also offer opportunities to:

• Learn: From training programs and workshops to master classes, there are opportunities to get hands-on experience from industry leaders, and learn to use high end production equipment, production techniques, and YouTube best practices.
• Connect: Attend events, meet fellow creators, spark new ideas and share experiences on how to succeed on YouTube. 
• Create: This is a space for creators to bring stories to life. They’ll have access, for free, to a studio and all the latest audio, visual and editing equipment that will enable them to experiment and create great videos that fans will love. 

Along with Google’s Engineering Center in Belo Horizonte and the upcoming Campus in São Paulo, YouTube Space @ Instituto Criar is another way for Google to help foster creativity, entrepreneurship and partnership with top organizations in the country. It’s amazing to see what creators have already been producing and we are excited to see what is coming next.

Posted by Alvaro Paes de Barros, Director of Content Partnerships for YouTube, recently watched A Question of Time - Instituto Criar e Vacheron Constantin

The YouTube Creator Academy goes global

Whether you’re starting from scratch on YouTube, or you’re looking to take an existing channel even further, the ever-growing YouTube Creator Academy is full of ways to polish your YouTube channel and build your audience. And now, we’re offering lessons in more than 20 languages:

Arabic Chinese Dutch English French German Greek

Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Romanian

Russian Spanish Swedish Thai Turkish Vietnamese

At the Creator Academy, you’ll find tips and lessons on topics like making great thumbnails and building your online community, as well as deep dives on music, gaming and family entertainment. Whether you learn by listening, watching or interacting with other creators, we’ve got it all for you at the YouTube Creator Academy.

If you’re new to the YouTube Creator Academy, subscribe to our YouTube channel where we get the scoop from other creators on how they get ahead; new videos are posted every Tuesday. You can also connect with fellow Creator Academy participants in our Creator Academy Google+ community.



We also hold regular events to help you grow your channel. We’re accepting signups now for our next one, Grow Your Audience Boot Camp, on October 20-31, 2014. Click on your language to register for the Polish, Russian, German, or French version of the course. Boot camps in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic are coming soon!

Wendy Leicht, Instructional Designer, recently watched “Types of People on the Dance Floor - IISuperwomanII.”