How To Make A Music Video: 4 Important Tips For DIY Artists

Music is good, no doubt, but music videos are way better for promoting your content. A piece of mind-blowing music wouldn’t be as well-received as a music video, given that we live in an age where videos are flourishing like never before. People don’t want to hear music without videos; this is what the stats are telling us.

For example, in the US, 68% of people went to video portals to search for music videos and even to listen to simple music. Given the craze for videos, I feel it would be in the best interest of the DIY artist to create music videos rather than simple music albums.

In this article, I will walk you through four easy steps to making music videos for DIY artists. But before I go there, let me first describe what I mean by music videos.

What is a music video?

A music video, for me, is a type of video which is generally accompanied by a music song or a music album. It is used to promote one’s artistic capabilities. A music video is also called a ‘promotional video.’

In our contemporary times, music videos are integrated with other video types, especially when there is a larger idea behind all the work. I like to combine animation video types, documentary types, live actions, etc., with the central theme of my music video.

Generally speaking, there are three types of music videos: performance, concept, and narrative. Some people like to add one more type called “lyrical videos”, but I believe the first three are the prominent ones.

Tips to make a quality music video

Now, when it comes to making a good music video, these four steps are all that you should follow. Being creative, making relevant content, doing quality editing, and enjoying the process.

Step 1
The first and foremost step, I would say, is to be super creative with the content. If the content lacks creativity, it will fail to draw any attention, and all the handwork and efforts put into the video would be a total waste of time. You can use the best screenwriting software if you want to be creative enough to understand. Having an intriguing concept and theme for my music video can save me some money as well as serve as a cover-up for the lack of special effects or equipment.

Being creative demands a good grasp of the craft. That’s why developing a better understanding of music will eventually help us be creative.

I suggest that to improve overall creativity, one should indulge in musically creative activities even when one is not working on any projects. These activities have personally helped me improve my fundamental music skills like ear training, rhythm, reading, etc. In turn, these fundamentals have helped me build a foundation for advanced skills like arranging and composing.

Step 2
In my opinion, being relevant is as important as being creative. Creativity brings depth to your craft while being relevant allows the audience to relate to it on a more personal level. Why would someone want to listen to my music videos if they could not relate to them? That’s why being mindful of what type of content is prevalent amongst the current generations is very important.

There should be a one-to-one correspondence between the artist and the audience. For me, transparency is very important. I should know the hearts of my viewers and what they want to hear. I should provide exactly that.

To find out what’s flourishing out there, I simply go to the trending pages, and that enables me to get an idea of what type of content people want. YouTube is the largest music streaming platform in the world, so discovering what’s in demand these days on such platforms can help us in producing relevant content.

As millennials, our attention span has drastically shortened over the years, so it is sensible that you follow the paradigm shift and make shorter music videos similar to the ones floating all over social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok. To post your music videos on any social media platform without any hassle, you can use a social media scheduler to work hassle-free.

Step 3
The most important step covers the entire editing spectrum. There is nothing more important than editing when producing a great music video. Content and relatable topics pull audiences’ way, but great editing can do the same job ten times better. Even if the content is inferior, the editing can compensate for it if the editor is skillful.

While editing, the first thing is to choose a power pack editing software or an online video maker. You can pick any software you want but if you are a noob and just starting out then a video maker with premade templates is going to help you out. Once these fundamentals are checked, you can go to the details like animations, visual effects, sound effects, adjusting tone and curves, and styling the music video using creative LUTs.

Step 4
The last step is to enjoy the entire process. Personally speaking, if I don’t enjoy the whole process of writing the song, putting efforts to add visuals alongside it, buying equipment to shoot videos, etc., then there is no point in working on it because the viewers get connected to the vibes, and they can sense whether I was enjoying the process or not. DIY music production is fun, and it would be very odd if my video didn’t reflect that.

Conclusion

So, this was how to make music videos, along with four essential steps for DIY artists. As you saw, being creative, being relevant, being good at editing, and last but not least, enjoying the whole process constitutes a good music video.