That’s the potential power of YouTube. According to YouTube, more than 800 million users visit the video-sharing site each month, and more than four billion videos are viewed daily. Even more amazing? Seven hundred YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute, a percentage of those being videos by musicians.

While your potential audience is massive, so is your competition. More than 60 hours of video are uploaded every day, which is equivalent to more than 176,000 full-length Hollywood movies each week. Independent musicians also have to account for competition from big labels paying to promote videos, and vying for your potential audiences’ attention.

YouTube success hinges on optimizing your video to maximize the chances that the right people will see and share your work. You didn’t create an amazing video of your newest song just so no one would see it, right? You need to get your music video seen, and we can show you how to do that!

Here are a few quick and easy tips to help you maximize your video’s exposure by optimizing your video for YouTube. This will work on music videos, your artist interviews, or any other type of video you will make.

Keywords Are The Key

YouTube optimization is a lot like search engine optimization – both rely heavily on relevant keywords to serve up the best content for searchers. Choosing relevant keywords is the most important step in optimizing your video for YouTube, and can mean the difference between 15 views and 15 hundred views.

There are four steps for optimizing your YouTube video with keywords.

1. Find Relevant Keywords.
   Review keywords on videos similar to yours, especially those with a high number of views, which will give you an idea what kind of keywords bring viewers to a certain video. Search for the keywords you might use to find your own YouTube video to determine if the search results are what you expected – you might have a different idea of keyword relevancy than your potential audience! Steer clear of adding irrelevant – yet popular – keywords to your videos. Irrelevant keywords might help your YouTube search results, but it’s not likely users will actually watch it. For a broader keyword picture, check out the YouTube keyword tool. It’s a free service that lets you see the most popular keywords based on language and country.
2. Getting Your Title Right.
   Start by optimizing your video title. Think of a newspaper or magazine. What type of headline are you drawn to reading? Choose titles that are descriptive, catchy and clear. You have 100 characters, including the spaces between words. Focus on the keywords you discovered in step one.
3. Choosing A Category For Your Music Video.
   Choose a category for your video. Search for videos similar to yours or browse the categories you believe would be the best fit for your own video. Think about using a less popular (but still as relevant) category so your video has a better chance of being seen.
4. Description And Tags.
   Add your description and tags. Your description should be as detailed as possible and include the ever-important keywords related to your video. You can include details like your location, genre, instruments or even the background of your song. You have approximately 800 words in your description, so use them wisely! Your tags, which have a 120-character limit, should also reflect your keywords.

All of these things will help your video be more relevant to any related search terms. This will help your target audience (And potential fans) find you a lot easier.

Settings To Set Your YouTube Video Apart

Keyword relevancy is only the first step to optimizing your YouTube video. YouTube also gives musicians a variety of further settings that can better help you optimize your video…

When you upload your video, you should always check the broadcasting and sharing options to make sure your optimized YouTube video will appear in searches. Privacy should be set to “public”; comments, comment voting, video responses and ratings should all be allowed so your audience can engage with you; and video embedding should be permitted. That way, when someone wants to share your video on their blog or article, they can embed your optimized video right from the YouTube website. People sharing your music video on their blog can only mean more exposure, so make sure your share settings are in order.

Adding Lyrics And Text To Your YouTube Video

YouTube videos are converted into Java, so the content isn’t crawled by search engines. To give your YouTube video an optimization boost, you should include captions or transcripts. These can be a written version of your song lyrics if you’ve uploaded a music video, or a written version of your interview.

To do this, transcribe your video or add captions if it doesn’t contain any dialogue. Save the transcript as a .txt file, then go to your video manager and click “captions” from the drop down menu beside your video. Finally, upload your .txt file to complete the process. Your video will now be accompanied by additional keywords and text, which will often help improve your optimization on YouTube.

Conclusion

By spending a little extra time optimizing your YouTube videos, you can share your songs with a much wider audience. Simply uploading your video and hoping it’ll find your target is a poor plan, so do what’s necessary to get your video found. You can find out more about video optimization for musicians in the Academy, so check it out if you haven’t already.

About The Author

Steven Payne is enthusiastic about all things to do with marketing promotions. While he isn’t busy with his day job, he shares his marketing knowledge with those in need. In this case, it just happens to be you cool musicians.

There are two main ways to make good quality Youtube music videos: By recording footage with a video camera and editing it on your computer, or by using Animoto to make a video based on pictures and / or video clips you own. With both of these methods you can make a good Youtube quality video in a relatively short amount of time. Great if you want to make a low budget music video.

Below I will look more at both of these options, so you can decide which method is best for you.

How To Make A Video For Youtube With Pictures And Music

This is the best option for those of you who don’t have access to a video camera to record your own videos. Animoto is a service which allows you to use your own pictures and music to create a good looking music video. While you won’t be able to send these videos to music channels on TV (These require you to have actual video footage), they are perfect for creating Youtube videos for promoting your music.

The reason I like Animoto is because it’s easy to use. You simply upload the photos you want to use in the music video, add any text captions you want to use, and choose what style you want the video to move in. After that, you can either export your video, send it to friends in a number of different ways, or upload it directly to Youtube. You can see a sample of what kind of videos Animoto can make via the above Animoto link.

While there are other ways to make a music video using pictures and music, I’ve found this to be the best. Other software I’ve used gives you a lower quality final video, often with unclear text and boring movement. They’re also a lot harder to use.

Animoto is perfect for anyone wanting to quickly and easily make high quality music videos for Youtube without and prior music video editing experience.

How To Record A Music Video For Youtube

If you want to take it a step further and actually record a music video for Youtube, here is another option. This option involves owning a camcorder (You can get a cheap HD camcorder if you haven’t already got one) , and editing the footage you record. The music video editing can be done by software already on many modern computers, such as Windows Movie Maker for PC, or iMovie for Apple Macs.

If you’re not sure how to properly edit a music video, I’d advise you look at how it’s done in professional music videos. You’ll notice that footage is often swapped in and out very fast, and different scenes are sometimes blended together. This is to avoid things getting boring, and to keep the viewer interested. Try and copy some of these things in your own videos, as well as anything else you notice.

While it would help if you have a good quality camcorder, even with a cheap camcorder you can create a video for youtube that will wow your viewers. The key is in the editing, so if you want your video to take off, make sure you edit it well.

This option can be harder and a lot more time consuming then the Animoto option, as you have to do more then simply putting pictures in order and publishing the video to Youtube. Having said that, it’s a whole different effect, and one that can give you good results if you get the editing right. If you already have a video camcorder, this method won’t cost anything to make. I’ve seen people make good quality videos with their iPhone and iPad cameras, so making a cheap Youtube music video isn’t unrealistic.

Why Would You Make A Low Budget Music Video For Youtube?

So now you know how to make a music video for youtube, but why would you want to record a video that won’t be going anywhere else? Simple, because Youtube is one of the best ways to promote your music online…

If you make independent music, there’s a good chance you don’t have a big budget to your name. Making full priced music videos can be very expensive, and not something everyone can afford. Recording a low budget Youtube video on the other hand is a lot more affordable then creating a video for TV. On top of that, it can still get you a lot of exposure with the chance of your music video going viral.

One of the great things about Youtube is their videos are easy to share. If someone likes your video, they can add it to their own website, share it on social media websites, comment and rate your video, and much more. All of these things can add to the success of your video, and make it more likely that it’ll reach a wider audience.

Advice For When You Create A Cheap Music Video

I want to give a bit of advice for anyone wanting to know how to make a cheap music video. Even though you may not have a big budget to make your video, that’s no excuse for putting out rubbish. If you can’t make a good music video on a budget, don’t make one. If you make a cheap music video and it doesn’t come out well, don’t release it. Remember, once you put your music video in the public domain, there’s a good chance it’ll be there forever. Putting out a bad music video can do more harm then good, and once people have a certain perception of you it is hard to shake off that image.

If you’re not sure about recording a music video and editing it yourself, it may be a good idea to go with Animoto. This format has less room for error, and should give you good results at a cheap price. Furthermore, if you produce a video you don’t like, you can always go back and edit it till it’s right.

How To Make A Music Video For Youtube Conclusion

Making a music video for Youtube is the path an increasing amount of independent musicians are choosing to go. You can make a low budget music video, and have it up for the world to see within hours. Whether you decide to use Animoto or to record and edit your own footage, good quality videos can be made relativity quickly and cheaply.

If you have a bigger budget and are willing to pay someone to make a video for you, check out guide on how to make a music video.

That’s it for our guide on how to make a music video for youtube, you are now ready to make your first video!

If you haven’t already read part one, I suggest you do that first. If you have, then let’s move on.

How To Make A Music Video – Find A Video Recording Company

Once you have your storyboard made up and you know what you want from your music video, next it’s time to find a company that can create your music video for you. While you can look for a video recording company before hand, the reason I have suggested to do it after is because you need to find one that matches your storyboard. Let’s say for example you want a standard ‘no thrills’ music video. There may be a local company that does these kind of video at a good quality and for cheap. In this case, it would be a good idea to go with them. If you finished your storyboard though and decided you wanted to make a video with a lot of computer effects and fast moving cameras, you may want to go with another company that has experience with these kind of videos.

So, how do you go about finding a video recording company? Well, one good way is to look at other videos of a similar quality to the one you want made. Let’s say for example there is a video by someone else in your genre that you like. It’s a good idea to see who made that video, and have a look at their other work. If they have a style you like, why not approach them to make your music video as well?

You can usually find out who made these videos either via the credits, by Googling the information, or by asking the musician who made their video. As long as you approach them in a polite and professional manner, a lot of people wouldn’t mind disclosing this information.

Another way to find someone to make a music video for you is by looking in directories and search engine results. Simply type “Hire cameraman _____ (the area you live)” or “Hire music video producer _____ (the area you live)” in Google and you should get an idea of where to start (Please note that there are many different terms you can type in to be presented with people who can record you music videos, so try a few different ones and see who you find). Have a look at a few different companies, see what quality of work they can do, and check out the prices. It’s often best to look around rather then going for the first result you see, as the best video recorder doesn’t always appear at the top of the search results.

One final way to get people who can record a music video for you is by approaching college or university students. Media students often need to do projects to complete their portfolios, so are willing to do free videos that will benefit both parties. While the quality may be hit and miss depending on what stage of the course they are and on their natural ability, it is often worth a try. I’ve seen some excellent quality videos produced by media students, all made on a very small budget. If the video doesn’t come out as well as you expected however, at least it never cost you any money. They can still use it for their coursework, and you can spend the money to get another video recorded.

Make A Music Video – Things To Remember For The Day

So it comes to the big day. It’s time to make your music video. As well as getting all the pre prep right, you will need to remember to sort out everything for the day. A lot of this stuff should be sorted prior to your video shoot day, as the less you have to worry about at the time, the better. Assuming all these things have been packed the night before however, here are some things you will need to bring with you on the day:

• A Way To Play Your Music.
  When you are recording your music video, you will want your video footage to be in time with the actual song. The only way to make this happen is to play the song in real time and do your movements along to this audio. This will give you perfectly timed footage which can easily be matched up to your audio during the editing stage.Some music video companies will provide you with a way to play your music, but some won’t. It’s best to ask them first, and if not then buy a cheap portable music player to bring. It is a good idea to test this out before you attempt to bring it on the day of the music video shoot. As a further precaution, you should also bring a copy of the song on your phone. I’ve seen times where the equipment would fail to work (Or batteries would run out) and they would have to resort to playing the song off someone’s phone. Which leads to the next item you will need on the day:
• Spare Batteries.
  As I mentioned above, when you’re dealing with portable music devices, you never know when your batteries will run out. Because of this, it’s a good idea to bring spare batteries with you. In fact, bring at least a couple of set of spares with you, if not more. And I don’t mean those cheap 99 cent / pound store batteries either, I mean good quality batteries that will last a long time. This is your music video you’re making here, do everything you can to ensure there is minimum fuss on the day.
• Change Of Clothes.
  A change of clothes in music videos is quite standard, so unless you want your whole video shot with your wearing the same clothes, you will need to bring a change. It is best to plan what you’ll be wearing in advance (During the video planning stage if possible, or at least a couple of days before your shoot). You need to make sure these clothes are ironed the day before, and hung up somewhere safe where it can’t get creased or dirty.I’d advise you bring some back up clothes too, just in case anything happens to the clothes you plan on wearing. If you get tomato ketchup on your video top for example (And I’ve seen it happen) there’s no way you can be recorded with that top on. This footage will be available for people to view throughout your whole music career, so having a stained top isn’t something you’ll want to have as part of your history books.
• Props.
  If you have any props that will be in the video, make sure you have them prepared from a day or two in advance and know how they work. If you leave all the sorting things out till on the day, you be adding unnecessary stress to your day.
• Charged Mobile Phone And Numbers.
  If you have a number of people who are involved in making your music video happen, you will need to ensure you have contact with all of them. Make sure you have all of their mobile phone numbers to hand, and be sure that everyone’s running on time. If even one key person is running late, this will slow down the whole process, and maybe even end up costing you more money.
  Let’s say for example the camera man is running late. This will slow down your whole day as you obviously can’t record the video if they’re not there. If you can contact him however, at least you’ll know when he’ll be there ready to go. In the mean time, sort out anything else that needs doing.
  If you have two phones, bring both with you. If the battery on one phone has a short battery life, at least you’ll have the other one as back up.

How To Make A Music Video Part 2 Conclusion

And that’s it for our two part guide on how to make a music video. By now you should know what steps you need to take before shooting your music video, as well as what you need to prepare for the day. If you haven’t already, check out How To Make A Music Video Part 1 for more tips and tricks when making your music video.

This guide focuses on everything that you personally need to think about and sort out to make your video come out how you want it. Many people fail to realise how much work needs to be put in to make a music video, so we’ve put this guide together to let you know step by step what you’ll need to do. In part 1 we’ll show you the importance of picking the right song to match your video’s aims, what factors you need to think about with regards to the look, feel and speed of the video, and how to create a storyboard that will get everyone on the same page when it comes to making it.

Please Note: How To Make A Music Video Part 2 is also out now. I advise you read this current article first, and then move on to part 2 once you have finished.

How To Make A Music Video – Pick The Right Song

Before we go into talking about how to make your music video, I want to talk a bit about your song selection. As you will probably know, creating a music video can be a costly process. Because of this, it’s best to make the right kind of video the first time around. Some people think they can make any type of music video and fame will reach them overnight. This is far from true however, as a music video (Like a song) is only a tool you can use to help make your name. If you pick the wrong tool, the final results can be less then effective.

Questions you need to ask yourself include:

• What do I hope to achieve from this music video?
• What audience am I aiming this video at? And
• How will releasing a video benefit me?

Depending on these answers, you may pick a different song to make a video for. For example, let’s say you make rap music. If your aim was to reinforce your underground status, you’d pick a very different song then you would if you was going to try and go commercial.

I’d always advice making a video for a song that will have mass appeal while sticking to your roots as much as possible. The more people the song appeals to, the more music channels you have the chance of getting on. The more music channels you get your video played on, the more your video will get viewed.

The main aim of making your first music video should be getting it seen by as many people as possible. You especially want to gain new fans, and get them onto your mailing list where you can contact them any time you want.

While you could make a niche video that would only appeal to a section of your potential fans, this will make it harder to gain the exposure or royalties then a wider reaching song could get. Depending on your aims however, you should pick the song that you feel will best achieve your goals.

How To Make A Music Video – Think Of A Concept

Ok, so you’ve got the perfect song which you’re going to make a music video to. The next stage is to get an idea of what you want to happen in your music video. This is creating a concept, something many of you should be good at if you already write your own original songs. Here are some things you’ll need to think about when trying to establish the concept and feel of your video.

• The Story.
  So, what story will your music video be following? While at this stage you won’t need to go into every single detail, you will need to get an idea of what you want to happen in it. So for example, what are you trying to portray? And what will be the main things that happen in this video? Later we will go on to fill out the story more, but for now just get a rough idea together.
• Music Video Location.
  While at this stage it may be difficult to be exact, you will need to think about what kind of setting you will be using. For example, will you be recording your video in an indoor our outdoor location? If indoors, is it somewhere that’s easily accessible? If it’s in a venue not owned by you, could you hire it or record in there for free? How much will this cost?
  If you’re using an outdoor location, will it be busy around the time you’re recording? Will there be many distractions? Are you even allowed to record there?
  All of these things need to be established and checked up on to see if they can work. You do this checking now so when it comes to creating your storyboard later, you will have a location to set the story in.

• Feel Of The Music Video.
  Next up, you will have to decide on the feel of your video. Do you want it to be a bright video with lots of happy faces? Or a darker more moody video with lots of straight faces? You won’t have to stick to just one of those two feels of course, you can give any type of feel you want to your video.
  As well as having the people on your video act a certain way, you will also be able to change the mood in post production stage. If you have a good video editor, they can give different lighting and shadow effects to change the mood of the finished music video. This can make even low budget music videos into an attractive sight.
• Pace Of your Video.
  As well as the feel of the music video you make, you also have to think about the pace of things. Do you want to make a fast moving video with things coming and going quickly? Or do you want a slower moving video with everything going at a more relaxed pace? This needs to be decided as soon as possible, as depending on your answer, you will need to find a video recorder or editor that can work in this style. A video is usually given the impression of speed via moving cameras, quick frame changes, and a busy screen. On the other hand, if you want a slower calmer video,you’ll usually have a slower moving camera with fewer frame changes.
  It is important to describe to your video director before hand what you want to achieve with your video, and how fast you want it to move.
• How Busy Should It Be.
  When I talk about how busy your video should be, I mean how many things are going on at ones. An example of a busy video would be the main character walking through a packed train station. There is a lot of things going on, and a lot of things in frame. An example of a non busy video would be someone in a field. There are no other people, and there’s a lot of open space.
  Once again, this should work with the speed of your video. A fast video is more likely to have more people in it, while a slow video will usually have less or no other people in it. This isn’t set in stone of course, as you can always have a slow moving video with a lot of people and visa versa.

Once you have thought about all of these things, you will have a good idea of how you want your music video to be made. You will know roughly what’s going to be happening in it, as well as what look and feel it’s going to have. The next stage is creating a storyboard, and planning out your music video scene for scene.

Make A Music Video – Create A Storyboard

Ok, so it’s time to create a storyboard. I have already written a guide on everything you need to know about creating storyboards, so instead of writing it all again, check out this article on how to create a storyboard for music videos (Opens in a new window, be sure to come back here once you’ve read it). This article will show you what storyboards are, why they’re vital when creating a music video, and how to make one easily. It also includes a free storyboard template for you to use. If you’re going to learn how to make a music video, you should do it the right way. Get your storyboard right.

Make A Music Video – Part 1 Conclusion

That’s it for part one. By now you should have a song to record a video for, have a good idea of what you want to include in your music video, and be well on your way to laying it all out in your storyboard.

Here is How To Make A Music Video Part 2.

In part two we’ll be looking at how to find the right company to record your video, what things you’ll need to have sorted for the day of the video shoot, and more. So check out How To Make A Music Video Part 2 now.

What Is A Storyboard?

A storyboard is a step by step plan of how your music video will go. On this storyboard, you will have rough sketches of how you want each scene to look, as well as notes on what you want to be happening. While storyboards can be designed on white boards of black boards, it’s often easier and more convenient to design them on paper. This is because it can be easily duplicated and distributed to anyone that needs a copy. People that may need a copy include the video recorded, the director, the video editor, and anyone else that’s involved in your music video.

Why Do You Need A Storyboard When Making A Music Video?

Before we look at how to create a storyboard for music videos, we need to know why you need to. So, why are storyboards so important? Simple, because planning is key to making everything run smoothly.

When it comes to making a music video, some people like to completely overlook making the storyboard before hand. Instead, they have a rough idea of how the video’s going to go, and just record on the day. In my opinion, this is a mistake. Planning is vital for using your time as effectively as possible on the day of the shoot. As you’re paying to hire a video recording crew, you will most likely have a limited amount of time to shoot your video. If both you and everyone else knows exactly what they’re doing (Especially the video recording crew) then everything will go a lot quicker.

Explaining to your camera man exactly how you want the shot can take a while to do. If they already know before hand however, this will save a lot of time on the day.

Another reason you need a storyboard when recording a music video, is so you know what footage you need to get. There’s nothing worse then going to edit your video and realising you haven’t got enough footage or forgot to add a certain scene. If you have a story board before hand, you will be able to see exactly what footage you need to capture. Furthermore, you can plan what order you’re going to record the footage in, the most important parts going first.

Creating storyboards is all about saving time and getting things right on the day, which can be more useful then a lot of musicians realise.

What Should You Include In A Music Video Storyboard?

Ok, so now you know what a storyboard is and why it’s so important. But what should you actually include on your storyboard? Here are the main things:

• A Sketch.
  First of all, you will need to include a sketch of what’s going on in the scene. It doesn’t have to be a perfect or even good quality drawing, but it does need to show a few things. First of all, it needs to show the layout of the scene. Is the camera going to be zoomed up right into the main character’s face? Or is it going to be getting a full body shot of them? However you want the camera zoomed, you need to show it in the storyboard. Next, you need to include any important details. For example, how many people will be in the shot? Or is there any specific objects that will be in there? Or certain movements by the characters or objects? Any important details need to be sketched in, so everyone knows exactly where they should be and what should be happening.
• Notes On What’s Happening In The Scene.
  As well as having the drawings, it is also important to have notes on what will actually be happening in the scene. While sketches can be good to visualise things, notes can emphasise things that are harder to sketch. For example, you may have 39 people in once scene. Instead of drawing 39 people in your small sketch box, it’d probably be better to sketch a few stick people in the background and in the notes state ‘there will be 39 background people in this shot’.
  Another things that’s hard to sketch is the movements of people or things. Let’s say for example your lead musician needs to be spinning clockwise over three seconds, this would be hard to show in a sketch. You can easily put this in the notes however, so it’s still clear what should be happening in the scene.
• The Time Frame.
  As you’re making a music video, one important thing you need to bare in mind when creating your storyboard is the timing of it all. You should note down how long each scene is going to last, and match it up with the timing of the song you’re making a video for. For example, let’s say your first chorus comes in at 1 minuet 12 seconds. Most likely you’ll want a different scene beginning around then, so make a note of the time the scene should start. You should also note how long that scene will be. This will make it a lot easier for your music video editor, as they will know exactly what is expected of them.

You will also need to make a note of any effects you want put in the scene, any lighting effects you expect, and any scene switching effects (E.G. If you want two scenes to keep switching with each other every couple of seconds). Most of these things will go in the notes section, or on a separate page if they are instructions for your video editor. If you want any part of your video to be a certain way, make sure you note it down here.

How To Create A Story Board For Your Music Video

Once you know what to include, it’s not hard to make a story board. We’ve made it even easier by giving you our free storyboard template in the section below, so all you need to do is download that, print it up and fill it out. You fill it out by sketching each scene in the provided box, and make a note of the what’s happening in the text area. You will also want to include how long each scene last for, so you know how much footage you need to record.

When it comes to making a storyboard, it doesn’t have to be perfect. By this I mean your drawings don’t have to be the best, and it doesn’t have to be the neatest. What is does need to be however, is easy to understand, and precise. The whole point of this is so you and everyone else have got a plan, and know what they should be doing on the day. As long as it gives people time to plan ahead, know their role and know what the final outcome should be, the storyboard has done it’s job.

Free Printable Storyboard Template For Music Videos

Below is a free printable music video storyboard template which you can print out and use free of charge. It is pretty easy to use, but if you’re not sure what to put on it, simply check the ‘What Should You Include In A Music Video Storyboard?’ section above. This will tell you how to use this free storyboard template for music videos. For now though, here’s the free template:

*Click the above image for the full sized printable storyboard template (Opens in a new window). This music video storyboard template is printable and free to use.

How To Create A Story Board For Your Music Video Conclusion

Storyboards are an essential step in learning how to make a music video. They’re a great time saving tool, and help ensure you have covered all areas on the day of your video shoot. If you’re learning how to record a music video, you should also add storyboard making into your skill set. Now you know how to create a storyboard for music videos and have a free printable template to get you started, good luck with plaining your video.