Yes — LabelGrid registers your recordings with YouTube Content ID. It’s for labels, distributors, and rights-holders who control exclusive rights — claiming and monetizing uses of your recording across user-generated YouTube videos.
YOUTUBE CONTENT ID AT A GLANCE
- What it is: rights management, not streaming — it claims and monetizes uses of your recording in user-uploaded YouTube videos (this is separate from YouTube Music).
- Revenue share: you keep 80% of Content ID revenue (20% fee).
- Reference file: made from your master, which LabelGrid accepts as WAV or FLAC only (MP3 is not accepted); 30+ seconds recommended, with title, artist, and label metadata.
- Policies: Monetize, Track, or Block — settable per territory.
- Typical go-live: matching begins once your reference file is live and fingerprinted — after that, every upload is scanned and matches get your chosen policy. Timing varies, so submit at least 2 weeks ahead.
- Royalties: tracked in LabelGrid’s royalty accounting with automated splits from the Basic plan up.
How do labels distribute to YouTube Music and set up Content ID?
Turn on YouTube Music and YouTube Content ID in your label’s Distribution Settings, then select both as outlets on each release. LabelGrid delivers your audio and artwork to YouTube Music, where YouTube builds the Art Tracks, and registers the same recording as a Content ID reference. On Content ID earnings through LabelGrid’s deals, a 20% fee applies on every distribution plan, so you keep 80%; on your own direct (SOBO) deals, no Content ID fee applies.
- Check your rights. Content ID needs exclusive rights you control. A release with a track declared as using a non-exclusively licensed sample, or declared fully AI-generated, is excluded from Content ID and YouTube Music automatically.
- Enable both services on the label. In the label’s Distribution Settings, switch on YouTube Music (Streaming and Distribution Services) and YouTube (Monetization Services). These settings are per label, so repeat this on every imprint that needs them.
- Prepare the release. Upload a lossless WAV or FLAC master (MP3 is not accepted), square RGB artwork of at least 3000×3000 px, and complete title, artist and label metadata.
- Select the outlets. When you schedule the release, select YouTube Music and YouTube Monetization (Content ID). Enabling them on the label does not add them to releases you had already set up.
- Submit early. Send the release at least 2 weeks before release day. YouTube then generates the Art Tracks and fingerprints your reference; its processing time varies.
- Set your policy and get paid. Choose Monetize, Track or Block, per territory. Content ID earnings appear in your royalty statements. The 20% Content ID fee is separate from your plan’s streaming rate and applies to earnings through LabelGrid’s deals, not to your own direct (SOBO) deals.
- Request an Official Artist Channel. Once an artist has a release live on YouTube Music through LabelGrid (its Art Track already exists), and you own and operate a channel for that single artist, with content you uploaded yourself and the same artist name as its Topic channel, ask us: LabelGrid submits the Official Artist Channel request to YouTube on your behalf. Approval typically takes about a month to six weeks, and can take up to 90 days.
Full setup and eligibility rules are in our help article YouTube Content ID for Labels.
