In this special guest blog, our friends at Videobolt offer their advice on video services for musicians.
This year, we’ve witnessed an extraordinary transformation in the way we live, work and create. A Live DMA report looking at the “impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on 2,600 live DMA European music venues and clubs in 2020”, found that around 664,000 fewer artists and performances were booked this year – a 70% decline on previous years.
For artists themselves, it has meant they can’t meet, shoot music videos, perform, or sell merchandise as effectively – that’s a loss of revenue and a renewed struggle to get their music in front of audiences.
One way artists are addressing this challenge is to shift online, going direct to fans via live streaming, like Twitch, and social media – and locked down audiences have been increasingly receptive to consuming music content digitally.
The industry has been supportive of this shift too, with some streaming platforms, venues and labels enabling new monetisation methods, new content sharing services being introduced, and existing platforms – such as Instagram – being extended.
To enable, and support this shift, musicians need to create visually compelling content that engages their audience and ensures they are instantly recognisable. Video proves time and again to be essential in improving traffic, conversions and reactions, enhancing engagement and sharing more about the artists and their stories.
In this context, online video creation platforms – like Videobolt – are rising-up to the challenge of providing artists with the tools to quickly, easily and cost effectively create engaging content tailored to all formats and platforms, for immediate release – all without needing specialist skills or equipment.
In turn, musicians are able to capitalise through more views, improve their live streams, and monetise via different platforms, securing much needed exposure during such difficult times.
Intros and outros
A love of music and marketing don’t necessarily go together but with the shift to digital, it is more important than ever to create a unique visual style and identity. Video intros and outros which include a common visual identity allow artists to add personalised and professional starts and ends that are uniquely and recognisably theirs. These can also be used on live streams, Q&As on Insta stories, and help fans notice you more easily as they scroll through their feeds – especially on mute.
Visualisations
Videobolt has seen a 300% increase in the number of musicians creating visualisers during lockdown over the same period last year signalling the significance of video in engaging audiences across different platforms.
After uploading your music (directly or from Soundcloud) the technology automatically creates music visualisation videos based on the beats by analysing the tune and animating the reacting spectrum. The video can be customised with colours, effects, a band tag or ‘logo’, and – in some templates – an imported image. The video is rendered to Full HD or 4K quickly in the cloud so as not to eat up valuable processing power from your own device.
Promotions and monetisation
Video can help promote new ways for audiences to engage e.g. with donations, memberships to artist channels, early or exclusive access to content, as well as virtual gatherings and paid features.
There are a lot of initiatives set up to support musicians during the Covid-19 pandemic, and easy to use, cost effective video technology is a simple way to create engaging content that can help develop a wide, devoted following and a recognisable brand.
How has video helped you progress as a musician? Leave your advice in the comments below…
Share this:
