Best practices for music partners on asset and channel transfers

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

Sometimes music partners may need to transfer assets and channels to another music partner, such as when catalog acquisitions happen. During the transfer process, both partners (transferring and receiving) should work together to exchange data and coordinate actions. Specifically, partners should follow the best practices below to ensure a smooth transfer.

Asset transfer best practices

Transitioning to a new distributor who delivers content using the <SentOnBehalfOf> DDEX element may not require the following process. Reach out to your current distributor for guidance.

Asset transfer processes vary depending on the asset types being transferred:

  • Sound recording, Music video, and Web assets
  • Art Track assets

Sound recording, Music video, and Web assets

These 2 steps should be done in sequential order:

 Receiving partner adds asset ownership

The receiving partner should update asset ownership when they intend to apply their ownership to the assets in their Content Manager. Doing this will cause the assets to go into ownership conflict with the transferring partner. This ensures claims aren’t released when the transferring partner removes their ownership.

More details

Depending on your preferred content delivery method, updating asset ownership can be done in few different ways:

Add ownership to individual assets

The receiving partner can add asset ownership on individual assets in Studio Content Manager.

Note: When a receiving partner adds ownership to an asset, the transferring partner’s metadata doesn’t transfer over. Because of this, the receiving partner must add consistent and complete metadata. The transferring partner can use their Assets report or Assets (shares) report to provide the metadata to the receiving partner.

Add ownership to multiple assets at once via .CSV

The receiving partner can bulk update ownership for multiple assets using the "Asset Update" spreadsheet template.

Note: When a receiving partner delivers or adds ownership to an asset, the transferring partner’s metadata will not transfer over. Because of this, the receiving partner must also add consistent and complete metadata. The transferring partner can use their Assets report or Assets (shares) report to provide the metadata to the receiving partner.
 
If no “match_policy” is specified, the Studio Content Manager’s Default Match Policy is applied. We recommend making sure that a Default match policy is present by checking the Policies page in Studio Content Manager.

Add ownership to multiple assets at once via DDEX

Asset ownership updates can be delivered via DDEX. Learn more about using the YouTube DDEX feed.

Keep in mind: Partners already using the Partner API can also add ownership to assets using the API, but should consider any API quotas before doing so.

Transferring partner removes asset ownership

Once the receiving partner adds their ownership to the assets, the transferring partner can remove theirs. This action will automatically resolve the ownership conflict and allocate the adjustment revenue generated during the ownership conflict to the receiving partner.

More details

Depending on your preferred content delivery method, updating asset ownership can be done in few different ways:

Remove ownership from individual assets

The transferring partner can remove ownership from specific assets, also in bulk, from the Assets or Issues page. This action will automatically resolve the ownership conflicts.

Remove ownership from multiple assets at once via .CSV

The transferring partner can bulk remove ownership for multiple assets using the "Asset Update" spreadsheet template. Theownership” column should be set with '0%territories'. For example: '0%WW' would remove the ownership worldwide. This action will automatically resolve the ownership conflicts.

Remove ownership from multiple assets at once via DDEX

Asset ownership updates can be delivered via DDEX. Learn more about using the YouTube DDEX feed. This action will automatically resolve the ownership conflicts.

Keep in mind: Partners already using the Partner API can also remove ownership from assets using the API, but should consider any API quotas before doing so.

Art Track Assets

Art Track assets can’t be transferred and can’t have ownership applied by multiple music partners. For these reasons, Art Track assets must be redelivered.

To guarantee the catalog availability on YouTube during the transfer process, these 2 steps should be done in sequential order:

Receiving partner redelivers Art Track assets

After receiving the recordings and the associated metadata for the catalog, the receiving partner should redeliver all Art Tracks using their preferred content delivery method. This will create new Art Track videos with new video IDs and new view counts starting from 0. Note that views from the old Art Track asset are lost and can't be transferred to the new Art track video.

If the transferred catalog is large, the receiving partner may need to batch deliveries over several days to avoid reaching the limit of allowed deliveries per partner per day. If help is needed, reach out to your YouTube representative.

Keep in mind:
  • Receiving partner should deliver all relevant metadata using the same identifiers (ISRC, UPC, EAN, GRid) that the transferring partner did. This will maintain placements in current algorithmic playlists and user-created playlists and libraries in YouTube Music.
  • To guarantee catalog availability on the platform throughout the process, the receiving partner should redeliver all acquired content to YouTube 2 weeks before they intend to publish the acquired content to YouTube.
  • New Art Track videos won't surface in YouTube search while the old versions are still available.

Transferring partner sends takedowns for previously delivered Art Track assets

Once the receiving partner has redelivered all Art Tracks, the transferring partner can send takedown requests for the previously delivered Art Tracks using the same method originally used to deliver the assets.

To account for time zone differences, the end date must be set at least 2 days in the past.

Visual of suggested timeline for asset transfers

Channel transfer best practices

For music video and web assets, partners can start the process of transferring channels and associated claimed videos after the ownership transfer is complete. To do this, these 2 steps should be done in sequential order:

Transferring partner removes the linked channel from their Content Manager

Learn how to remove linked channels from your Content Manager.

Receiving partner links the channel to their Content Manager

Learn how to link channels to your Content Manager.

Keep in mind: During the channel transfer process, first-party claims may become third-party claims. If this happens, the relevant asset's match policy would apply. If the match policy is set to “block”, the transferred video could be unplayable.

More info

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