If you’re new to livestreaming, we recommend that you use YouTube. They have a very useful help guide, and you will not need to worry about obtaining copyright permissions, as YouTube have a blanket licensing agreement that will cover copyright permissions for your live stream event.
Setting up your account
Before you can livestream on YouTube, you will need to create a channel with them, and to do that you need to have a Google account. If you already use Gmail – whether for personal or group emails – then you already have a Google account.
The simplest way to create a channel is:
- log into your Google account
- go to YouTube
- click on the icon for your account in the top right of your screen
- select 'create a channel'
- click 'get started'
- YouTube will give you the option during the set up process to ‘use a custom name’ – this is where you can add the name of your group if you are logged in on a personal account, which will create a channel that is separate to your personal account
- You can also add a short biography and links to your website and social media accounts.
- Once you have created your channel, you can continue to customise it with your group’s information and branding, upload videos, or start a livestream. Your audience have the option to subscribe to your channel – this means that they can choose to be notified when you post something new, and that they will be able to access your channel quicker from the YouTube home page. Note that to start with, livestreams can only be initiated using a laptop or tablet – you cannot livestream from a mobile until you have at least 1000 subscribers.
Giving someone else access to your channel
It might be that the live stream you broadcast will be performed by someone else. In this case you will have to give them access to your channel to enable them to livestream, the best method is to add them as a manager. To do this:
- Check that you are logged in to your group’s channel and not to your individual account (look at the top right of your screen to see which profile image is displayed)
- Go to the YouTube home page (from the menu on the left-hand side)
- From the menu on the left-hand side, choose settings (you may need to scroll down to see this)
- Choose ‘add or remove manager(s)’ then ‘manage permissions’
- Click on the add new users icon – two people with a + sign at the top right corner of the box that appears
- You can add as many people as you want to by entering their email addresses and assigning them a role
- You can get back to the YouTube homepage any time by clicking the icon with 9 dots arranged in a square (top right of your screen) and then selected YouTube
Starting the live stream
When you (or whoever is giving the performance) is are ready to start livestreaming, login into your YouTube channel, click on the upload video icon and, then select ‘go live,’ enter your details and start the stream..
Google have also produced a guide to setting up a livestream performance on YouTube.
