Rihanna, Kanye Among Artists Onboard With MyYouTube

BILLBOARD.BIZ: YouTube is partnering with several artists and labels on a music video promotion called MyYouTube.

The initiative is a contest to see which artist can get the most fans to subscribe to their YouTube channel. Starting today through Feb. 5, artists will get points for every new fan that subscribes to their YouTube channel and share with friends from the MyYouTube site. Aiding their effort are fan incentives for subscribing, such as free concert tickets, iPods, CDs and more.

On Feb. 5, the five artists with the greatest number of points will be featured on a special YouTube masthead. The masthead has the added feature of allowing fans to subscribe to channels featured in it directly, without having to leave the homepage. As videos featured on YouTube’s homepage see significantly more traffic that others, this is great promotional placement for the winning artists.

More than 50 artists are involved in the effort and have recorded videos encouraging their fans to get involved. They include Rihanna, Kanye West, Lenny Kravitz, Justin Bieber, OK Go and more.

The benefit for artists is obvious. According to the YouTube, the first 24 hours of any newly posted video is streamed almost 100% by subscribers who receive alerts about the new posting.