Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of the Symphonic Blog

When it comes to music promotion, video is king. So, we asked our friends and experts at Rotor Videos for their advice, tips, and tricks on how to streamline your music video marketing strategy. Here’s what they had to say…

What videos should musicians be making to promote their music?

Video is the most thumb-stopping format you can use on social. And it can be used to promote all kinds of artist activities—like album and single releases, IRL events, merchandise sales, new episodes of your vodcast or series, contests, etc. But these all tend to fall in to one of these main video categories, which every independent musician needs in their music marketing toolkit:

• teaser videos

• promo videos

• music videos (official audio, music and lyric videos).

What are some video creation tips that artists need to know?

Every type of video has a different job to do for the artist, so the important things to remember when making them can vary.

TEASER & PROMO VIDEOS

These are your secret weapons for creating a high volume of videos you need to boost music promotion and get noticed online. They’re short videos (usually 15–30 seconds long) that provide straight-to-the-point messaging about upcoming plans or current/recently live projects (think Coming Soon, Out Now, New From, etc.) Their beauty is how easy and affordable they are to make. Here are some do’s and don’ts:

• Include text // On social, most videos are mute by default, so promo text communicates your message when audio can’t.

• Keep text brief // 30 seconds isn’t a lot of time to get an idea across. And you need to leave the text on screen long enough for it to be read. A good guide is to limit your word count to one word or less per second. So if your promo is going to be 15 seconds long, then your total word count needs to be 15 words or less.

• Include a backing track // These teasers and promos are about you, so make sure to feature your own music in them, even if the promo/teaser isn’t for a release. When it IS to promote an upcoming or new release, use the hook of your track to make an immediate and memorable impact.

What next?

Don’t make viewers guess what you want them to do after they’ve seen your teaser or promo. Include a call to action — that short instruction at the end that prompts them to interact in some way. (Buy Now, Stream On, Download, Follow, Subscribe Now, are all examples.)

Remember your shapes — Many artists make videos in the horizontal (16:9) format, which is great for YouTube and maybe Twitter. But let’s not forget that there are a host of other distribution channels out there where landscape videos look pretty crap — especially on mobile (shrunk down to fit the screen, black bars, etc). And speaking of mobile habits, it’s important to remember that 70% of millennials don’t bother flipping their mobiles horizontally when watching videos. So create every teaser and promo in the shapes the look best on the social channels you use.

Make square and vertical versions so that they always take up the maximum available space on social channels — like square for Instagram and Facebook feeds, and vertical for Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Tik Tok, etc. Fill the frame so that all eyes are on you!

MUSIC VIDEOS

This is the classic style that our brains immediately jump to when someone says music video. Full-length official music videos are still as important as ever for building a fanbase and music promotion (thanks to YouTube). Here are some tips and suggestions:

• Be creative // Take your time and make a video that showcases your brand identity as well as your musicianship.

• Know your direction // Do you want to go abstract to evoke a mood? If so, maybe use visualizer clips or animations. Do you want to tell a story? Then you’ll need to film or find clips that work together to build the narrative.

• Personalize it with you // Appearing in your music video is a great way to show fans your personality and let them get to know you. Include footage of you performing the track, dancing, or acting as a character in your narrative.

• Personalize it with home // Another great way to personalize music videos is simply to shoot footage around your town. Stock libraries have a lot of really great, high quality footage, but they’re not going to have clips of your local bar, that iconic mural or signage your neighbourhood is known for, etc. Clips like these can boost the authenticity factor and communicate a lot to fans about who you are.

• Be visually consistent // If you mix ultra glossy hi-fi footage with janky lo-fi footage, your video may come out looking like random clips in a blender.

For a more professional look, one option is to use clips that are all from the same shoot or footage collection. That will ensure that the lighting, filming style, film quality, and theme is consistent in every scene. If you need to use clips from lots of different sources, try to pick ones that share visual qualities in common, like finish (all lo-fi or all hi-fi), light levels, or colour tones. Another trick is to apply filters during editing to tie your range of clips together (like tinted overlays, or making everything black and white).

• Tease them // If labels put out press releases every time an artist launches a new music video, then indie artists should follow that cue and be hyping up their own music videos. Tease its launch weeks in advance with promo videos, sneak peeks of snippets, and date countdowns. Not only does it build anticipation and increase the reach of your new track, it also allows you to grow and deepen your relationship with your fanbase.