In the past, music videos were an essential part of an artist’s marketing strategy. With the advent of MTV in the early 1980s, music videos became a cultural phenomenon, allowing artists to showcase their music and visual creativity to millions of viewers around the world.
I remember rolling over in the morning to get ready for school, Throwing on FUSE TV and watching Fall Out Boy’s Sugar We’re Going Down and Modest Mouse’s “Float on” However, times have changed, and in 2023, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that investing in a high-budget music video may not be worth the cost.
The truth is, people don’t consume music the same way anymore, and the price of a music video makes filming them a waste of money for smaller artists.
The Decline of Music Video Consumption
People simply don’t consume music videos as often as they used to. This decline can be attributed to a number of factors. For one, the rise of streaming services has led to a shift in how people consume music. Instead of watching music videos on MTV or other TV networks, fans can now listen to music on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. As a result, music videos have become less of a necessity for promoting music.
Social media has also changed the way fans interact with artists. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow artists to connect with fans in more intimate and immediate ways than ever before. These platforms rely on short-form video content, like clips of live performances or behind-the-scenes footage, rather than polished music videos.
While Sure, sometimes some music videos can do REALLY well, but a lot of times the ONLY reason why people are watching the music video…. is because it says “Official Music Video”. That’s it. They want to listen to the song, and with today’s internet just being an entire Rick Roll of content, they know that the official music video is a reliable place to watch the video without having the rug pulled out from underneath them.
Now this doesn’t mean that fans don’t LOVE music videos. Sit down and think to yourself, how do YOU consume music videos? When is the last time you said “I’m going to go watch this music video” and why? And how many times have you watched the same music video?
A great Music Video CAN grow legs absolutely, but unless you’re filming the next Marshmello ft. Bastille – Happier video, chances are it’s not worth the time or money. That Brings me to my next point….
The High Cost of Music Videos
It’s no Secret, Music video’s are expensive. Traditional music videos can cost thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce, with expenses like location fees, equipment rentals, and hiring a film crew all adding up quickly. While a high-quality music video can certainly help an artist stand out from the competition, the cost may not always be worth the return on investment.
Even doing a well done music video DIY is still going to take money, and time. I believe you should still do these DIY videos but you can just make them a little more relaxed, and focus them more towards an entire content creation package rather than just ONE music video.
The “Wide Net” Strategy
So, if music videos are no longer a necessary component of an artist’s marketing strategy, what should you be focusing on instead? One approach is what I call the “wide net” strategy, which involves creating a variety of video content that can reach a broader audience than a traditional music video. By uploading many different versions of a video, you have the chance to reach a larger variety of audiences and a higher chance of new audience members being shown your videos on youtube.
Here are the videos every artist should be making:
Performance Visualizer Video
This can be a simple, low-budget video that features the artist performing the song against a background of abstract visuals or stock footage, or can be a more toned down less production-quality music video, or, like Lauv & Troye Sivan’s video – “i’m so tired…”, it can be something as simple as just driving around. While it doesn’t have the polish of a traditional music video, it can still be visually engaging and help viewers connect with the music.
Another fun example is Coldplay’s video “♾” where it’s just an interesting journey through …. space? At least i think it’s space.
Lyric Video
A lyric video is a great way to showcase the song’s lyrics in a visually interesting way. This type of video can be created using simple animation or motion graphics and can be a cost-effective way to promote the song.
Karaoke Style Lyric Video
This video features the lyrics of the song in the form of karaoke text with bouncing ball style cues. This is a popular video format as it encourages fan participation in a singalong type fashion.
Logo Video
This video can be either static or animated and showcases the artist’s logo or branding. While it doesn’t necessarily feature the artist performing the song, it can help build brand recognition and make the artist’s music more memorable. Some people also use this as the Visualizer, which is fine, but if you have the ability to do a nice visualizer, do it.
Nightcore Version
The internet is the WILD west, if your song gets ANY traction whatsoever, someone somewhere is going to make a nightcore and/or version of it, and they aren’t going to credit you and keep your royalties.
A nightcore edit is a version of a track that increases the pitch and speeds up its source material by approximately 35%. This type of video has become increasingly popular on YouTube and can help an artist reach a wider audience.
Daycore Version
The opposite of nightcore, a daycore version slows down the tempo and lowers the pitch of the song. This is a unique take on the song that can showcase a different side of the artist’s creativity.
We recommend just going ahead and doing both daycore and nightcore yourself and releasing them through your distributor the day of or the day after your release. Just make it it’s own album and include it with any remixes you may have. At the very least just distribute it to Youtube so you can have content ID on it and give you a better chance of detecting when someone does use your song. Like i said People are going to do it anyways, At least if you do it yourself you can control the quality, and make sure you get paid. Just make sure you say “Official ” when uploading.
Instrumental Version
An instrumental version of the song is a great way to showcase the music without the distraction of vocals. And just having instrumental versions around can be a handy pitching tool if you get the opportunity to get you music in large library, or in tv and film.
Karaoke Version
Similar to the instrumental version, a karaoke version features the song’s instrumental track along with scrolling lyrics. This type of video can be used by fans to sing along to the song, and can help the artist gain more exposure on platforms like YouTube, and just like the daycore and night core, if you don’t do it, someone else will, and I’m sure you’ve heard a BAD karaoke track before, you don’t want that.
Fiverr
While here at Twisby we are adamant about NOT using Fiverr for mixing and mastering. (You can read more about that by reading our article “The Hidden COST Of Cheap Mixing And Mastering: 3 Major Pitfalls“) Creative services like these can be done fairly well and for pretty cheap on Fiverr. We recommend ONLY using people with a lot of legitimate reviews, and where they don’t use the same template for every video, and i’d recommend only getting lyric videos done there, as a lot of the people selling the other services are just selling you things you can get for free or for cheaper with your distributor (like logo visualizers).
Click here to check out lyric videos on Fiverr here.
But that wraps this up. Spending a couple grand on music videos should really only be done if you have a great idea for one, other than that, just follow this list, and spend that money on other things like merch, or upgrading your recording setup, or ANYTHING else.
