Pitch songs for YouTube (playlists and Shorts)

Pitch Music is going away later this year. Instead, you can use Loudspeaker in YouTube Studio to pitch songs for YouTube. Learn more and get started.

 

These features are only available to partners who use YouTube Studio Content Manager.

 

Note: Pitching songs for YouTube Shorts is currently only available in certain locations. We plan on expanding to more countries/regions in the future.

 

Available countries/regions:

Brazil	Mexico
Canada	Saudi Arabia
France	South Korea
Germany	Turkey
India	United Kingdom
Indonesia	United States
Japan

 

The Pitch tool allows you to suggest songs for YouTube Music’s weekly programmed playlists and for YouTube Shorts.

Pitch tool overview

The Pitch tool is available in select countries/regions. To request access to the Pitch tool, talk to your Label Relations Manager at YouTube.

There are no deadlines when pitching for the Featured section, but pitches should be made at least one day before the desired live date.

There are 2 types of Pitch tool users:

• Standard users can pitch songs from artists associated with the Content Manager account they have access to. By default, all Pitch tool users are standard users.
• Super users can also view and edit other users’ pitches within the same Content Manager account. Speak to your Label Relations Manager for info on how to become a super user.

Pitch music

For YouTube Music playlists, the deadline to submit pitches is 11.59 p.m. every Tuesday, and playlist placements are released at 1.00 a.m. on Fridays in most countries. Hover over “Deadline” and “Live date” in the Week page to confirm the deadline and live date for your country.

To pitch songs:

1. Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
2. From the left menu, select Pitch music .
3. Click NEW PITCH.
4. Select a week from the dropdown .
5. Click ADD SONGS, then search for songs using:
   • Video ID
   • ISRC
   • Song title and artist name
   • Album title
   • Album title and artist name
   • UPC
6. Search for songs by Video ID or ISRC or Song Title and Artist Name.
7. Check the box next to the songs you’d like to pitch ADD.
8. Choose the region, label, and genres for each pitch. You can select up to 3 genres.
9. Enter the reason for pitching each song.
   • To pitch a song for YouTube Shorts, choose “Featuring to Shorts creators” and do not choose another reason.
   • To pitch a song for YouTube Music Playlists, select any reason other than "Featuring to Shorts creators.”
10. Click SAVE.

You can sort your search results based on:

• Release date (oldest to newest, newest to oldest)
• Alphabetical order by track name
• Alphabetical order by artist name
• Popularity (total views)

To sort your search results, click Sort by and select a category.

Keep in mind: YouTube is under no obligation to place any proposed pitches submitted using this tool.  Where a pitched song is placed, playlists will include the most appropriate version of your song (e.g. music video, non-explicit version, etc.). Your songs may be included in playlists other than those you've suggested.

Other pitch options

(Canada only) Enable on-demand playback for non-Premium users

To enable on-demand playback for non-Premium users in the selected region, mark the appropriate checkbox when pitching your song. This option should not be selected for all pitched tracks and is intended for promotional purposes only. Refrain from enabling this setting for more than one song per album at a time.

Note: Pitching songs with this option is only available in Canada at this time.

Check the status of your pitch

You can view a history of the pitches that you have made and check if your pitches were placed during a specific week. Here's how:

1. Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
2. From the left menu, select Pitch music .
3. Click on the week that you're interested in.
4. You'll see any playlists containing your pitches in the Status column.
   • Open weeks can still be adjusted. If a week is still open, you can:
     • Pitch more songs
     • Remove previous pitches
     • Pitch to a new country

You have access to your pitch history for as long as you have access to the pitch tool.

Tip: To download a .CSV file of a week's pitches, click the Download icon next to the week dropdown in the top left corner of a week detail page.

Add artist images to your pitch

Adding artist images is optional but recommended. Review the artist image guidelines for best practices on image selection.

Get in touch with your partner manager to access your corporate Drive folder where you can add or remove artist images. Images uploaded to the Drive folder will only be used on playlists, not your artist profile. Learn more about artist images.