The Rotor Blog

10 Tips for Making an Awesome Music Video

Find out how to make budget music videos, lyric videos and promo videos to increase fan engagement and fanbase size.

Want to grow your fanbase and make money from your music? We've worked with music video specialists and visual jockeys to bring together our top 10 tips for an awesome music video. In just a minute or two, you'll have all the knowledge you need to showcase your next track. Once you're done, head over to rotorvideos.com and put your new skills to work.

1. Start with your best track

Every good music video starts with a great song. Be honest with yourself (and your bandmates) when you critique your track, get other musicans / producers you trust to give you some honest feedback.

Is it the best version it could be? Have you taken the time to make this release awesome? Does it represent you as an artist/band and what you want to say, and are you showcasing yourself in the best way?

Ok! So you have a great track. Lets get to movie making...

2. What kind of video do you want?

Narrative

Do you want to tell the story of your song visually? Are there key characters you can film who will bring visual strength to your music video? Do you have the budget /relationships/time to go out and film?

Visual

More abstract content might suit your style of music better, bold visual elements can be a very powerful way to grab people attention, and within the Rotor library there are over 500 video art and visual clips which means you can produce a music video right now.

Performance

Do you want to film a performance video where you sing / play your track live to a camera? Have you got a gig coming up in a cool location it would make sense to film in? Or do you know somewhere cool to shoot?

3. Make a Mood board

A mood board is a collection of images that represent the feel of your music video. This can be photos colour swatches, stills from films, elements of your branding anything that helps you visually imagine and communicate what video is going to look and feel like.

You can setup an account for free and browse through the 6000 clips in the library at Rotorvideos.com to help you get some inspiration and take some screen shots to help make your moodboard.

4. Decide 'form' of your video

Similar to colour, the shapes and elements in your video also tell a story. For example, urban streets feel different from balloons and beaches. Try to select footage that will fit the feel of your video, supporting your colours and narrative.

5. Know your audience

Where in the world are your fans? What kind of content makes sense for your fanbase? Colours and content should feel natural for your fans. You want to engage them, not bore them - so think about what it might be like to watch your video for the very first time. Would you want to keep watching?

6. Use exclusive content

When you produce your own footage, make sure to shoot them in landscape mode as this is the best format for music videos, and ensures your video will scale to larger screens in better quality.

You can upload your footage into Rotor and combine it with our stock clips to make a great final video.

7. Be the star of your video

With even a basic smartphone and a little tripod or holder, you can shoot yourself performing. Think about a cool spot, good lighting and make sure you own your performance. Practise a few times and shoot a few versions so you can pick your best one.

8. Add text overlays

Add text to your music video so anyone watching it knows about the author and track title.

Make sure you keep all the additional information (eg. web links, gig info) out of your video so that it doesn't date. This type of information is best displayed in the accompanying post with the video on social channels or in the description box when you upload to Youtube.

9. Make shorter teaser videos

Why make just one video? You should consider a shorter 15-30 sec teaser to promote your release on social media before the big drop. Rotor lets you trim your track so you can make a shorter version of your song.

For promo videos, you can even add text overlays to promote your big release date/time. Watch this example video made with Rotor Videos.

10. Finally - share it with your fanbase

According to Buffer's 50 Video Marketing Stats, more than 500 million hours of video are watched on YouTube each day.

According to Forbes' Top 10 Video Marketing Trends And Statistics, half a billion people watch a video on Facebook everyday. But you don't need to decide between the channels; when you can upload to them all!

Craving a music video for your music? Rotor can help. We offer a platform where any artist can create professional style budget music videos and promo videos. With the ability to add your own videos & images, personalise text, alter filters plus much more, you can capture the unique identity of your work without paying through the roof.