14 Hip Hop and R&B YouTube Music Promoters

14 youtube promoters

The Future of Viral Music

YouTube music promoters are, without a doubt, the current and future trendsetters when it comes to finding new music and discovering new talent. Still, a lot of artists are either not aware of it or simply ignoring the power of YouTube.

While electronic dance music (EDM) had a head start on this, Hip Hop and R&B channels are (finally) on the come-up. The most successful one is Trap Nation with over 27 million people subscribed to their channel.

It makes sense that they have a say in which songs go viral. Especially, when you line up the facts:

  • They have a large audience (subscribers)
  • They have a targeted audience (since the promotion channels tend to focus on specific music genres)
  • And they operate on the world’s most used streaming platform (YouTube)

But what are these music promotion channels? Who’s running it? And how do you get your music heard by millions of people?

Let’s dive in and see if we can find the answers to those questions. 

What is a YouTube music promoter?

It all started with people creating their own YouTube channels and uploading a mix of music up there. Adding it to a playlist and creating flashy thumbnails for their videos. 

They would then share it with their friends and subscribers in the YouTube community. Actually, just like a mixtape in the days of cassette tapes and CDs. 

Basically, home-made compilations of music (typically copyrighted songs taken from other sources), but now uploaded as separate videos and added to a YouTube playlist.

The concept is still the same.

Since the introduction of YouTube’s monetization program, YouTube music promoters started managing their channels more professionally. They became aware that they could actually turn their channels in profitable businesses.

The business concept is pretty simple: They get to monetize the video(s) and the artists get the exposure.

Music promotion channel vs. Your own YouTube channel

YouTube music promoters offer you a way to market yourself as an artist. There’s nothing competitive about that. You might as well consider it a radio station, simply broadcasting your music to an audience.

Based on my research, new artists typically generate around 1,000 views (or less) when they release a new video. Regardless of the quality of the music. 

Those with a larger social following can get a little more but–in my experiences–anywhere around 1,000 views seems to be pretty accurate. Usually, with a little bit of sharing on Facebook and Twitter, you can get to these numbers pretty easy.

But when you’ve created a good song and invested valuable time and money in the process, getting less than 1,000 views is obviously very frustrating.

These results often lead to making the assumption that people aren’t supporting new (independent) artists. Thinking that you can only get the credits you deserve when you’re already an established artist and/or signed to a (major) label. 

Sorry, I don’t believe that.

The facts about YouTube Promoters 

YouTube music promoters have a larger and more targeted audience, release music more frequently and showcase different types of artists on their channel.

Your own channel is probably not even close to the number of subscribers.

You’re not uploading one or two songs a day and you only have your own music to showcase.

Here’s just a random example of a song that’s been released on an artist’s personal channel and later on a music promotion channel.

Lionaire upload Own Channel
Upload on own channel
Lionair upload Promotion channel
Upload on promotion channel

Crazy, right?

Why you should use YouTube Music Promoters to promote your music

YouTube music promoters basically help you share your songs with the world. It’s an underrated, highly effective way of music marketing.

With YouTube being the #1 streaming service in the world and the recent ‘come-up’ of streaming services in general, it’s not strange that these YouTube music promoters can make a world difference for upcoming (independent) artists. Especially, since the top channels have thousands or even millions of subscribers.

Check out Trap Nation’s channel statistics and all their sub-channels.

14 YouTube Promoters

That subscriber rate is crazy! That’s twice the number of people that live in my country. 

So, why should you seriously consider pitching your music to a YouTube music promoter? 

The obvious reason; They have a lot of people subscribed to their channel(s) so they have a much larger audience for your music.

The more important factor is that their audience is already used to hearing good music from that channel (otherwise they wouldn’t have subscribed).

When they upload your track, the subscribers are going to assume it’s a good song. This is what generates a large number of views.

When your best friend tells you about a song you should hear. Whether you’re eventually going to like it or not, you will at least check it out.

It works the same with music promotion channels.

You have the song and they have a whole bunch of friends (subscribers) who they will share the song with.

The benefits

  1. Exposure
  2. Get noticed
  3. Grow your social followers and fanbase
  4. Sell more music (if you’re selling the song on iTunes or other platforms)

How do they operate?

While some of the top channels turned their YouTube channels into profitable businesses, most of them are run and owned by just a single person.

YouTube promotion channels also tend to focus on specific music genres. You might have seen channels like Trap Nation or Rap Nation passing your feed sometimes. They own some of the biggest music promotion channels and are still growing rapidly.

There are also channels that focus mainly on R&B, like Stereohearts R&B or EscapeTracks.

When you submit the right music to the right channel, you also reach out to the right audience. This makes converting these ‘first-time listeners’ into actual fans a lot easier.

With a little searching around, you should be able to find contact emails and submission requirements.


Don’t assume that they will just promote your music after sending it to them. Most of them mention specific submission requirements on their contact page.

They might ask you: 

  • If you own all the rights to the music (video) or at least have permission (in writing) from the copyright holder(s) of the content.
  • If you allow the YouTube Music Promoter to monetize the video
  • To sign a content license agreement

Make sure you’re ready to answer these questions or, better yet, take initiative and mention these things in your submission. Which brings me to the next topic.

Submitting your music to a YouTube Music Promotion channel

Since most channels are run by a single person or a small group of people, they have their hands full on all the submissions that come in on a daily basis.

If you’re submitting your music to these ‘Busy Bee’s,’ make sure you make the email well worth it.

Here are a few tips I collected from professional music supervisors that handle 50+ submissions a day.

  • Do not send attachments! Instead, send Soundcloud links (private or public) or any other streaming service.
  • Send a download URL along with it. Enable ‘download’ on Soundcloud or just upload it to your personal cloud. (Dropbox or Google Drive)
  • Only submit when you’re certain about your track and it’s quality.
  • Be professional in every way you can.
  • Mention some of your recent achievements if they’re worth mentioning. (E.g. passing 10,000 plays on Spotify or if you’ve been featured on a popular blog, radio or tv show.)  
  • Less is more. Get to the point and avoid long emails explaining how you started doing music when you were 9-years old etc. Let the music do the talking.
  • Make sure everything they need is in the email. Social media links in your email signature, a link to your website and a direct link to your biography.
  • Keep it personal with the goal of connecting with the person on the other end of the email. Say ‘Hi Mike,’ instead of just ‘Hi.’ Also, don’t use an email booster. They will see right through it.
  • If the promotion channel has specific submission requirements, make sure you follow them and address them in your email to show that you actually did your research.
  • The subject line has to be good and to the point. “Hey, this new song I made is FIREEE!!” does not really sound professional. Instead, go with the simple and professional one. For example: “Interested in promoting my song [track_title] by [your_artist_name]
  • Check, double-check and triple-check your email before sending it. All the links should work and all the required information should be included. If necessary, make a checklist.

First time submitting your music to a YouTube Music Promoter?

While it would be really cool to have your songs promoted on channels like Trap Nation with millions of subscribers, you might want to start out with the smaller channels first. They are more likely to accept your submission.

Follow the tips given above as they proved to work really well when I followed them.

14 Hip Hop and R&B YouTube Music Promoters

While there are a lot of music promotion channels on YouTube, I already did some of the legwork and selected the ones that have the most subscribers and are most active today.

Therefore, they are more likely to handle your submission. Accepted or not.

Trap Nation

26,740,719 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Trap, Rap

Rap Nation

2,725,370 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap

Chilhop Music

2,331,223 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap


1,739,858 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap


1,099,708 subscribers
Genre: R&B

RnB Nation

614,604 subscribers
Genre: R&B, Hip Hop

I Am Hip-Hop

473,439 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap

Stereohearts R&B

432,698 subscribers
Genre: R&B

Music Daily

265,306 subscribers
Genre: All


202,100 subscribers
Genre: R&B


178,222 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap, R&B

Beats & Culture

109,609 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap

Best Hip Hop | Rap | R&B Music

64,244 subscribers
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap, R&B

Steezy Tracks

54,616 subscribers
Genre: All

All the channels in this list are growing fast and gaining 50-1,000 subscribers a day. By the time you read this article, the number of subscribers is probably much higher.

Since it took me a while to do my research, I figured I could save you a lot of trouble by creating a full list of all these channels and their contact details.

You can download it here for a small price and start submitting your music right away.


A final piece of advice

As I’m writing this, YouTube music promoters are very underrated. I’ve asked around a lot about this topic but it seems that not a lot of artists use this method of music promotion.

Most of them aren’t even aware of it.

What I’m trying to say is; Don’t wait too long!

Major labels are already picking up on this and some of the bigger channels are offered exclusive deals by labels to release songs of their signed artists on their channel exclusively.

Hopefully, this article was helpful to you. I would appreciate it if you would drop a comment below and share your thoughts.

Wishing you all the best in your future music career! 

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