Music in Video
Music has the power to completely change how your content is perceived, and can make a strong statement about your brand. Thought out decisions on music are wise in establishing the tone for your videos. This article will help guide you through the process of how music works in professional video productions.
Where do we get music, and is it legal to use?
Production companies typically use “royalty free” music websites for their audio needs. These are websites that offer “stock music” songs, which are mostly fair to use with no legal implications tied to them. These music libraries are made up of content that are entirely devoid of any songs you’ve probably ever heard. They’re often pretty basic tunes, but nonetheless are very professional, tone-setting, and can be catchy!
Why is music important?
Music plays a huge role in determining the brand outlook of your content or company. When brainstorming, it’s wise to be open and direct about what your tonal goals are for your content, and this is in many cases directly related to music. For example, if your content is intended to be light and humorous, a lighter non-salesy song is likely more fitting. (maybe light acoustic, jazz, or classical).
If you’re struggling with this, a good way to come to terms with it is to think about what your usual working rhetoric is with clients or customers. Are you down to earth? Maybe more serious and professional? Your proven working rhetoric says all your need to know about what your tone aught to be.
How do we discuss music selections?
Typically, we provide multiple different music options to clients before we begin editing a project. The options represent different genres of stock music. For example, “corporate” music is a popular genre of stock music. A corporate song is pretty much the status quo for most service based companies making video content. You can see an example below, as well as listen to the song and see it in a video.
However, there are many other genres, and each genre sets very different tones. You can see some additional genres below.
For example, your video may be a bit more laid back than a typical corporate type video, and thus benefit from a different genre of music. An example could be a video that naturally is more conversational and loose, which would work better with the “easy listening” genre. Consider the example song and video below.
Closing Thoughts
Music is a key element of video, but in the case of stock music, the tonal decisions are usually pretty straightforward. If you’re a decision maker at your company, consider what musical tone best fits your business style and the goal of the content you’re prospectively creating. If you would like assistance on this front, please feel free to contact us to schedule a free consultation.