Hi there. A great song is the best marketing tool a musician can have. We all know that.
But for the last half a century there's been one rule that's never changed in music marketing and in fact keeps becoming more and more true, which is a great music video is the second best marketing tool you can have up to that great song. Okay, but maybe a Tik Tok trend overtook it in the last year, but that's a discussion for another video. We all share our favorite songs with our friends, but an amazing music video teamed with a great song does something to us that compels us to want to text, tweet, or show our friends when we hang out since we want to experience and discuss what makes us feel such a strong emotion towards a song when we see that music video teamed up with that song we love.
So let's discuss the hidden ways that are never discussed on how musicians who have access to smart directors, labels and managers actually develop a music video instead of making another one that wastes your time and money. Because none of us want to see another boring video we've seen a thousand times, so I want to help you not make one. So like, so many people think that making a great music video is all about hiring the right director.
And while that does help, what happens before the director is hired is usually far more important to making sure that they can do a good job and make it go far and get a lot of views for an artist. What happens in professional music circles before a director is hired is a creative brief is filed. And for those of you not versed in boardroom like I just said, that means that the management or artist and label will send this brief of what the artist is trying to accomplish with a video about their perception.
Because the team knows the artist's best and they know what their strengths and weaknesses are and how to play them up. And oftentimes this can be to show that there's some deep ass artist who's really heady and intellectual and is the type of person who understands real art, not like those paintings at the mall I can never see the images that are hidden in. Sometimes that brief is even just to show off their personal style because the artist dresses well already.
And yeah, since this is the music business, sometimes this will be a 25 page deck or a three paragraph with bullet points that repeat themselves over and over again in an email or even a screenshot of the notes app in the iPhone. And they either copy those notes into an email or they tell the director what was discussed on a phone call. It all happens different ways.
So what I want to discuss today is the most important part of a video. Since execution and editing are important, but if you really do strong work at the stage where you're planning and doing the creative brief and treatment, well, that will make the video way more likely to get shared and do your music marketing a lot of favors. And even if you're going to self-direct, this will help you get more focused on what your video should be, since oftentimes if you have a more clear idea of what your music video should be and what the goals are you want to attain with it, the more potent it's going to be to get your song to as many eyes as possible.
Plus you could always see if the director could beat a good idea or have them add to it. One of the best ways to get the most out of your great ideas is to come up with a great one first and find someone else who makes it even better. So it's important to start by defining the purpose of a music video above all else and so many people miss this.
While there's many purposes of a music video, they're all downstream from this one single one. We want to make the viewers more excited about your song so that they tell someone else to watch the video. That's the be all end all.
And if you make a music video that doesn't serve this purpose, you're wasting an opportunity to gain fans and wasting all the effort you're going to put into making this music video. So we have to understand what you're trying to accomplish and the modes that you can work within to accomplish that goal. So the question you're asking when you're trying to develop a music video is why would your fans tell someone else to watch this?
What are the confines we have to work within you as an artist to play up those strengths and to do what's right for your own authentic self? Well, first off, we want to be considering your swat analysis as to what will play up your strengths and downplay your weaknesses and maybe change a perception about you that you'd like to change. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, be sure to hit the description after you watch this video and learn about one of the most important ways to develop content around your music, whether it's social media posts or your music videos.
But let's break it down. So I came up with these six categories for music videos, as you can see here, and every time I'm developing a music video with an artist, I try to think about what category we should choose so that people will share it. So as you can see, the first category is get everyone horned up.
Yeah. This is the most common type of video since one, musicians often have egos and they want to show off how hot they are and two, this is the cheapest way to make a music video oftentimes. But I also say this often leads to the lamest videos there are since so many people fail at this since the visual aesthetic has to work well for these videos to do a job of getting people to share them.
And most of all, there's like 3000 videos that I've seen that are the room level failures and they're thinking they're getting the audience horned up when they're definitely, definitely not. So what are some examples of these videos that well get the audience all horned up? They're often dance videos, performance videos, posing videos where the main idea is to just show the artist as being hot as.
. . and getting everyone all hot and bothered.
Now I should say, while there's a bunch of these other video categories, the getting horned up part is often interspersed until all the other formats since when you have a hot person, you might as well get everyone horned up and you can be doing the other things since getting people horned up help sells the song. But there are a lot of videos where, let's be honest, the sole goal is to get you as horned up as possible. Like this Madonna video.
I would argue my Queen Charlie XCX, an artist I love so much, I have a tattoo of one of her songs, her latest era has been a masterclass and her just contextualizing the levels and depths she can show you how hot she is. The way these videos pass the test of why someone would watch them and share with their friends is they want to have their friends basking in their horned upness with someone else, which admittedly is really weird and I don't particularly love being horned up with a bunch of my buds, but whatever, these videos work. And let's also remember it's not always just about wanting to [inaudible 00:06:13] someone.
People get horny for wholesome things. Take Steve Lacey's video for this summer's Smash It Bad Habit where he just bops around being fully clothed like his stylish self and plays with a cute pup. Trust me as a man who watches his girlfriends swoon for a guy who's good with dogs, that's why you see me doing that all the time on my Instagram stories.
This makes people swoon for you, it is a more wholesome form of getting them horned up. It doesn't have to be all twerking and contorting yourself with your crotch prominently displayed to get people attracted to you, since that comes in many forms. Let's also remember hot is subjective and charisma goes a long way.
So even if you aren't conventionally attractive, that doesn't mean your charisma can't get the audience horned up. Many videos have to be this since there's no budget. But the key is if you're going to do this type of video, walk in knowing what the traits of the hot person are and make sure you capture them as well as you can and play the hand you are dealt with as many strings as possible.
There's so many examples of this type of video working that I don't feel the need to name them all, but you've just watched like 10 of them overcome with this narrative, so you should probably get the point. Plus, I've made a playlist that's linked below of every video in this video so you can watch some master classes on great videos in each category, but now is a great time to take a quick break before the next tip and teach you a tool for all your socials that you need to use so people can see your music video. Koji's the sponsor of this video who offers what I consider to be the best experience for a fan to have when they want to learn more about you.
Koji's a link in bio app store for creators. It offers a free to use, free to customize link in bio platform and it's truly the best link in bio for musicians. I mean, just look at these profiles, they look amazing and they can all be done for free.
But here's the thing, you've probably seen ones like Link Tree, but Koji has this app store where you can do amazing experiences for fans to get to know you, interact with them and build relationships, and even make money. Like seriously, I've been talking to so many musicians lately who are telling me they are making money with their link in bio after watching all the videos I've been making about Koji. And I want to say, these are not iOS apps.
Nothing to download, it's super easy. These are link in bio apps that live on the link in your bio on all your socials 24/7. So let me show you a few of these apps that I find to be amazing for music marketing.
Video Shopping allows you to add clickable product links on top of your video content so you can show where to buy the things in your video, like merch. Listening Party allows you to give early access listening party experiences to your fans. You could also set controls for when the pre-release music expires to build FOMO and keep the experience exclusive.
No track shipping and no rewinding, and it's perfect for your next video. An audition lets fans or other musicians audition for your next project or music video. They could download a track, then players sing along with a track and submit their audition.
That's pretty awesome. I recently made a video that gives a thorough tour of Koji and my suggestions for building a profile that's effective for you. So go and learn more and get your own free Koji link in bio page for all your socials by heading to the description of this video and clicking the link I have for it there or to withkoji.
com. That's W-I-T-H K-O-J-I. com.
But really click my link in the description and support this channel. All right, the next type of video we have is create a spectacle. This is showing people something they haven't seen before with visually stunning imagery that will get people to send it to their friends because they can't believe what they just witnessed.
And this could be something really simple like Sisqo's glow in the dark beach concert in the "Thong Song" video, under the grotesque shock of Aphex Twins "Come to Daddy" video or the amazing visuals in "Window Liquor. " People want to share it because they can't believe their eyes. These videos are often used to show your depth as an artist and are often combined with a funny video or even a video that capitalizes on one of our other categories.
I mean the category a change of perception is often used all the time for this to show that you are now entering your artsy phase and you're an artist we should all respect and come to know for your heady, heady self. Some great examples of this type of video are Billy Eilish is "When The Party's Over" or "Bury a Friend. " Sure, her audience has never seen Bjork videos or classic horror movies, so Billy's videos came as quite a shock to her young audience and solidified her as one of the creative forces of our time when she came out with these.
Then you have something like "Sticky Drma" from Oneohtrix Point Never, which shows a crazy spectacle while also telling his audience of weirdos that he's right there with them and they have founded an artist they should get to know by showing the audience that he's part of their culture of larping weirdos. "Sugar" by Brockhampton perfectly shows the group as the artsy weird kids of hip hop while making a video that is shocking for a beautiful song that people will share, thinking they can't believe with just dropped. FKA Twigs came onto the scene having to show she's a formidable artist.
So she put out her video "Two Weeks," which just this amazing spectacle that immediately established that she was more of an artsy person than a pop person. But spectacles aren't always just visually artsy things. Shakewell's "Leg Lock" is one of the best videos I've ever seen and I have no joke sent it to like 30 to 50 of my friends.
And it's so simple. It takes a simple camera technique and repeats it over and over while showing the spectacle of his weird ass lifestyle. And even to all those okay go videos on the treadmills, that was spectacle.
And I like to always find examples of these that could show even the dorkiest of genres that could be done and the masterclass on this type of video lately has been the group Polyphia's output of recent years where they constantly create spectacle in their video while making some of the dorkiest math Prague there is. Third, we have a category I like to call this is who we are. This is another common type of video that is becoming increasingly popular where you just show who you are off stage and let the audience get to know more of your personality.
I do like these because when they're done well, they make your audience wish they could hang out with you and fans often bond deeper with you, which then makes them want to support you, since we've seen over and over again fans support the artist they feel the closest bonds with. And they share these videos with their friends because they look at how cool you are and wish they could be doing things like you. But these videos do often fail because a lot of the time what is done in them is not that cool because truly if hanging around a living room and watching Netflix is who you are, well, that's just not that interesting.
So you have to really think of what would inspire envy in your audience. A true masterclass in this is the long form video that Turnstile put out for their monumental new record that caused such a buzz, Turnstile Love Connection. Truly, watch this if you want to see a masterclass doing this in a genre where it's really, really hard.
But other great examples are the G-rated version of that Brockhampton video "Sugar" I just mentioned where you could just picture suburban kids wishing they were cool enough to hang out with these guys. I also think of Brockhampton as the masters of this genre. Gold shows them hanging out in their LA neighborhood and one of the things that I truly appreciate about this group and all their videos is they do double duty on reinforcing the motion of the song consistently.
And another great example of this is The Band CAMINO. They show their personality in a complex, goofy way that even has some spectacle in their video for "I think I Like You" as they pair themselves and personalities and bring their audience into their depth as a band possibly the greatest video of all time in this genre is "Thos Moser" by Gupi and Fraxiom, aka Food House, as it shows the internet culture and silliness of their personalities. And after the fifth viewing of this video, you feel like you would know exactly what it's like to hang out with the two of them and I'm convinced that this video is the genesis of what most videos will be like in the future.
But oftentimes musicians think these videos are for more established artists, but there's been so many times this type of video has helped to define an artist from the first video as someone to be paid attention to and set the artist's vibe up. Kesha's Tik Tok video introduce the world to an artist that came off as giving zero [inaudible 00:14:12] just as the lyrics described. The Beastie Boys "Fight for Your Right to Party" defined them for what they wanted to be known as, a dangerous group that your mom is not going to like after they trash their house.
And then there's ZillaKami and SosMula, aka City Morgue, who made one of the most dangerous videos I've seen in recent years, complete with them smoking God knows what, shooting up things and carrying bazookas, but you could also just have this be a behind the scenes video of what you do on the road. Beyonce's 7/11 video shows exactly what her and her crew looks like on the road while getting everyone warmed up. All right, the next type of video we have is change the audience's perception.
This type of video shifts the perception of the artist, whether it's a new look to go with a new album onto just showing who they are in a new attitude they're not known for. What I mean by this is that almost every group I talk to says there's something people don't get about their group and they think that that's the wrong thing to think of them. Or maybe people just haven't seen a side of them yet and they'd like to change that.
A music video is the best time to show people more of yourself or show the audience a way you'd like to be perceived that people don't see in you. I mean, I can barely think of a single time I've hung out with a band and I haven't heard them go on and on about how people really should think this way about them. Well, this is how you fix that and this is so important since music videos are a thing you could do to control the message and aesthetic for which you could accomplish so many objectives.
And since this is the most money you'll probably spend in your marketing, if we could take advantage of changing this perception, well, we probably should. I will say though, these videos do tend to work better though for established artists, since they usually inspire a share from someone telling their friend that they should see how this artist has changed and they want to show their friend and discuss that. And what creates the conversation is that what you used to think of the artist is actually now different, but there is ways to use this early on.
I always think of Sum 41's "Fat Lip" video as being the ultimate change of perception video. They had the impossible task of getting punk kids to accept rap and punk together in that era, but Sum 41 knew they pulled this off and this video showed punks enjoying a song with rap in it and they incepted it into the brains of everyone who watched it and the song became a huge hit. But it doesn't have to just be the genre that you're changing perception on.
It can be everything from showing that a child artist is now an adult, hi Miley, and I'd be reluctant not to mention my new favorite band of 2022, Momma, as they've made a string of incredible videos. But the one I'm in awe is called Rockstar, which plays with the joke of them becoming huge, but also subtle wink and nod is that it's so well executed that when you hear their bangers, you think they're worthy of bullying up just like the video shows and it kind of like puts it in your mind that, yeah, they should be this popular. Then I think of The 1975's video for "The Sound," which is a masterclass on shutting critics up as it projects the snark all the critics had about the band in that era, and then shows them looking at the critics showing that they're comfortable with what they're doing, which then actually led them to become critics darlings on their next release.
But then on another video for "Two Time," they actually focused on the audience and showed that they added a multi-ethnic audience and it wasn't just a bunch of emo kids. Similarly Pinkpantheress's video for "Just for You" did a perfect job of showing who her audience is and showing instead of telling people that while this generation has never heard the garage beats that she's been doing, that the type of kids who are a little bit of weirdos should feel comfortable in her audience. Truly perfect positioning.
And I'm always looking for more examples of these genres, so be sure to hit the comments and let me know if you know of a good video that I should be having listed in one of these future videos. So then we have a type of video I like to call accent the emotion. These videos often have a lyrical theme acted out or visuals that try to bring to life what the song sounds like.
Fans share these videos with their friends because they're blown away by the synergy of your song and the emotion combined and want to share that experience with a friend since they're emotionally bowled over and want their friend to bond with them about it. So American Football's "Never Meant" shows the perfect awkwardness of emo kids falling in love. It's possibly the most twinkly emo video ever and ironically captured an era of emo perfectly.
And yet the video wasn't even released for years after the song was released. It was kept in a box for years, but it serves as a perfect time capsule for that period. Then The Replacements "Bastard of Young" video is probably the best simple video of all time and it captures exactly what the song is singing in such a simple image.
Then you have Cashmere Cat's "9," which tells a perfect story, it just feels like the song. It also gives you a change of perception of who the artist is if you'd only seen them live. Carly Ray Jepson's "Emotion Record" is the perfect example on zoning in on these emotions perfectly and the video for "Runaway With Me" looks like it was filmed by her boyfriend as they ran away together.
Whereas Passion Pit's "Carried Away" plays up the dynamic of the lyrics perfectly. But there's also some dark ways you could do this. Kilo Kish's "Void" is a perfect example of the tension in the song as she fights with herself while creating a spectacle.
And Tame Impala's "Let It Happen" does the same exact thing as one of the most perfect videos ever made for showing tension in the song. As well, if you make retro music Private's "We Got Some Breaking Up To Do" is a perfect retro throwback that plays up the look of the genre and how it sounded then while they make a song that sounds exactly like that era. Okay, our sixth and last category is funny videos.
These are the videos that make the audience laugh out loud and that fans want to share it with their friends since they think it's clever or funny. Really simple. And let's be honest, the basic currency of the internet today is people sending funny things back and forth.
And while finding a funny video can be very hard for some of you, when it's right, it is the ultimate viral currency and spreads more than any other type of video. The Menzingers's "I Don't Want to be an Asshole Anymore" shows Jason Voorhees trying to be a standup guy and be a good boyfriend and inspires the laughs. The classic example of this type of video would of course be Blink 182 running naked through the streets.
But there's also another way you can be funny. It's always funny when you put an artist in a situation that doesn't feel like they belong in. For example, Charlie XCX's "1999" or her collaboration with Iggy Azalea for the "Fancy" video shows them in a classic movie scenarios and it makes the audience laugh at them being those characters.
Whereas Red Fang's video for "Wires" shows the personality of the band perfectly while taking a fun concept and making you laugh at the band being in that scenario. One of the funniest videos I've ever seen is Aimee Mann's video for "Labrador" as it does a perfect send up of her past as a huge artist and what it was like later in her career showing both personality and making the audience laugh and want to share it. But here's the thing, everyone, once you make a video, you got to know how to market it on YouTube so that it actually gets spread.
So you got to watch this video I made on everything you need to know to blow up on YouTube. So watch that right now as it's linked on the screen where you're going to miss another piece of the puzzle that will stop your growth. Thanks for watching.
