What an OAC actually changes
Without an OAC, your music on YouTube typically shows up in two disconnected places: your own personal/brand channel (if you have one and upload to it yourself), and a separate auto-generated channel YouTube creates automatically from "art track" videos whenever your music is distributed but you haven't claimed an official channel. An Official Artist Channel merges both into a single, verified channel — your uploads and the auto-generated content live in one place, and you get the checkmark badge next to your artist name.
Before you request one
If you already have an existing personal or brand YouTube channel you've been uploading to, have its URL ready — this is what typically gets merged into the OAC rather than requiring you to start over on a fresh channel.
Requesting an OAC
- Go to your artist profile in the dashboard.
- Submit an OAC request, including your existing YouTube channel URL if you have one.
- The request is reviewed and submitted to YouTube on your behalf.
Timing and approval
Approval is ultimately determined by YouTube, not by DistroVibe — we submit the request on your behalf, but we don't control YouTube's internal review process or timeline. This typically takes several weeks. If it's been significantly longer than that with no update, open a support ticket and we'll check the request's status.
What you need for eligibility
YouTube generally expects a consistent artist presence (official releases already distributed and appearing under a consistent artist name) before granting an OAC — this isn't something available for a single unreleased track with no prior catalog.