The music industry has changed, and I mean really changed.

Look back 20, 30 even 40 years ago and music videos were huge purely because of TV. The earliest music videos were made by The Beatles, they didn’t want to appear on shows like Top of The Pops so they made short promo films the BBC could play instead.

Then when MTV came along in 1981 the game changed again. If you released a new song in the eighties you had to have a video. Over time budgets got bigger, videos became more ambitious and almost turned into mini movies.

By 2005 YouTube was born and it all changed again. Artists started making their own videos, budgets got smaller and videos became less polished.

So you can see, even in its short life, the music video has evolved … and it’s still evolving.

Social media

When it came to discovering new music we had the radio, Top of The Pops and channels like MTV which was really radio with pictures. We saw and heard new songs in full several times on TV and radio before popping to the shops and buying a physical copy.

We now discover new music in a very different way.

Now we usually find new music by hearing small chunks via a 30 clip on TikTok or Instagram or we’ll hear a song in a shop and Shazam it. Then we might check out the whole song on Spotify or YouTube. The final piece of the puzzle is when we part with money for your art and we both know that’s a little bit tougher than it used to be.

The problem with music video is that so many artists are still paying thousands for a full length music video much like The Beatles did over 50 years ago. The music video hasn't really changed with the times. Musicians and producers have ignored the new musical landscape.

What needs to change?

Music video still has a very important role to play, so in that respect our manager friend is quite wrong. It hasn’t died but it has evolved. The problem is many artists and video producers haven’t evolved with it.

So what needs to change? The full-length music video still has a place but if that video is going to successfully sell a song, and the artist, we can’t ignore the social media platforms that can play a big role in its success. That means there are a few big challenges to consider the next time you think about a video for your new music.

1. Audio

This is going to hurt but most people on social media won’t hear your music.

That’s because most people flick through their feeds on mute. Some stats show only 10% of people have sound on! So how in the hell are you going to get your great new music that you’ve poured hours of love into – into the ears of your followers?

You wow them with visuals.

If they like what they see they are much more likely to

a: stop scrolling

b: pay attention

c: flick the sound on

Remember. Selling your new song on social happens with video first and not audio first.

2. Text

We’ve already established that up to 90% of your audience won’t hear your song but without audio your video is probably going to make very little sense on its own. You’re basically just dancing around in silence opening and closing your mouth.

This is where you can be super smart with what people see! If they can’t hear you, you’ll need to explain what’s going on with text so the whole thing makes sense. This is where so many musicians go wrong on social. They don’t include the 90% of people who aren’t listening.

So, as well as making visually stunning clips for your music you need to add text so those people on mute are up to speed.

Something like: This is a clip from my new song - click the link on my profile to hear the whole thing, download it, buy it, come to my concert etc. Without captions people won’t understand what’s going on and just move on.

Remember: Video alone is not enough. Use text to share your message.

3. Length

Let’s say you’ve got a new song and it’s 4 minutes long. Are you just going to post that video straight onto social media as is?

Of course not.

We all know short video on social is king right? When I produce a music video I think about the whole production for sure but at the same time I think about how that video will look on social media in smaller chunks.

How many visually appealing shorter clips can I get out of it that still include the song’s hook?

That way I can use a clip almost like an advert for the whole video that people can watch elsewhere (YouTube, Vimeo, websites). Then your reel becomes much like a trailer for a movie.

Remember: Your video needs to work as a whole and as a series of shorter clips.

4. Aspect ratio

I’m going to assume you know what an aspect ratio is but if you don’t, there’s a whole blog and video about it here but let’s crack on as if you know what I’m on about.

Music videos are still made in 16 by 9 or landscape and that’s how it should be for the likes of YouTube, Vimeo and TV. So, if you’re still making yours that way well done, you did good.

But for social media the best way to get your video noticed is by flipping it over to 9 by 16 or portrait. If you went ahead and posted your landscape video to Instagram for example it would take up a very small amount of space on screen, be less noticeable and that would hurt your engagement. The majority of social users are on a phone, so you need to be in their face in the right aspect ratio and that’s portrait.

So how do you cover both landscape and portrait when shooting your video?

Film with portrait in mind. Make sure all the key action appears in a space that can be cropped to portrait. Then when you do your editing you can make a portrait clip from the footage you shot in landscape and people will still get to see everything important on screen. At the same time that section will still work in landscape ratio.

If you know ahead of time which parts of your video might make great short clips you can make sure those bits work in both formats and then relax the rules elsewhere in the video.

Remember: film in landscape but with portrait in mind for your shorter edits.

Is the music video dead?

No, it's very much alive. In fact it's probably more important than ever. But much like the rest of the industry it has changed in a very big way. It has evolved and we can’t afford to ignore that but most of us are.

If you’d like to find out more about how I can help you make a promo video that works in the 21^st century, let’s have a chat, the old fashioned way on the phone if you like.

Social media hasn't taken that away from us yet.