In recent years, videos have proved to be one of the most successful forms of media involved in the advertisement. However, many studies have shown that it is not the quality of the image that makes the most significant impact on the audience, but rather the audio quality of it. Video creators must pay attention to the music they choose to incorporate in their videos, be it background music or sound effects, as it is what helps best deliver the desired message of the video itself.
Choosing what music fits your video best might be a challenging task, but there are various tips that might help make this process easier.
Think about the Role your Music will play
The first question you should ask yourself is what kind of video you are trying to create. The music you choose has to match what is happening in the video, as well as reflect the overall mood of it accurately. For example, informational videos usually use subtle background music, as it is better for keeping the audience’s attention to the information explained. Story-based videos rely on clear music, that helps explain and advance the plot depicted in the video. Any sort of videos made for announcements prefers to use dramatic music.
Once you decide what mood your music should reflect, you need to consider the exact purpose of the music: will it be background music for the entire video, as an intro or outro, or as a stinger to transition between different parts of the video? This helps you decide whether the music you are looking for should be shorter or longer, as well as give further clues as to what might fit best. If your video has voice-overs, you should opt for calmer music, or even remove music during spoken portions to not distract listeners, but if your video mostly incorporates music, then you might prefer choosing a louder, more dynamic song.
You should also ask yourself what the target audience is for your video, as it can also help narrow down the options.
Think about the Feeling you are trying to Evoke
Feelings and overall mood of any promotional material are incredibly useful tools to use in marketing, as you always need to make sure your viewers feel a connection to whatever it is you are trying to communicate through your video.
The music is what sets the tone for your video, and also what helps people get immersed in whatever story you are trying to tell with your visuals. Because of that, you need to consider what kind of mood you are trying to set and choose music accordingly. For example, a slower tempo puts people into a calmer mood, while energetic music can make them feel excited. All you need to do is do a filter search to find whatever type of music you are looking for faster and more efficiently.
Keep the same Mood throughout the entire Video
An important thing to keep in mind is trying to go for music that doesn’t change pace or feeling throughout the video. Choosing music that changes significantly from the beginning until the end can confuse the viewers and make them feel disconnected from the video they are watching. Not only that, but it can also sound jarring to the ear, which can upset viewers and make them lose interest in watching the rest of the video.
Use Video Bookends
When making a video, you might consider adding bookends: short snippets of music sometimes combined with either an animation or text, bookends are what indicated that a video is starting, ending, or changing from a visual chapter to another.
Bookends are incredibly useful, especially if you are looking to make your videos more authentic and on-brand, as they make your creations easily identifiable. For these bookends, you don’t need to go overboard with the sound of it, but rather look for a short musical piece that sets the tone for your video, is memorable, and helps viewers get immersed in the video.
Pay attention to Copyrighted Music
There are four types of song licenses that you will encounter online, and you always need to pay attention to them if you don’t want to get in trouble for your video.
First of all, there is free music: this category includes any music that belongs to the public domain. Any public domain music is free to use, although some creators might state that they offer their music in exchange for giving them credits in your work.
There is also limited license music, which includes royalty-free songs. These are songs that can be used for free, but only for non-commercial purposes. If you are planning to use limited license music for marketing purposes, then you have to pay a certain one-time fee for it. Closely related are paid license songs: these are royalty-free songs that you pay for and afterward use for an unlimited number of times, no matter the purpose of it.
Lastly, you will find lots of rights-managed songs, which are usually a big investment: for these types of songs, you will pay based on how much they are used and how many people listen to it.
Find ways to Replace off-limits famous Music
If you want to use a music track that is easily recognizable, such as a certain movie soundtrack or a famous song, but doesn’t have the budget to actually pursue that, then there are a few options for what you could do.
There are a few websites that specialize in this topic and can offer tracks that are very similar to current rights managed songs. Not only that, but some musicians specialize in mimicking famous songs and creating similar quality tracks meant to be used for similar purposes. This is particularly useful for when you have a certain song in mind that would perfectly reflect the desired mood for your video but cannot afford to buy the rights for it.
Moreover, in many countries nowadays, laws are stating that copyrights expire about 50 years after the creator’s death, and any work they made can enter the public domain and become free to use.
There are many ways in which you can ensure that the music you choose is the perfect fit for your video creations. It is important to remember that there are many resources online that can be of great help to find the right music to make your videos stand out and gain the popularity and admiration they deserve.
