How to Make State-of-the-Art Video Singles Cheaply
When it comes to promoting their new music releases, I have
found that most musicians only consider radio as the vehicle
for exposing their music to the public.
Rarely do they consider publicity, in the form of print media,
i.e., music magazines, weekly arts and entertainment
publications and newspapers as support tools to help support
their radio airplay (another subject I shall address shortly).
But, even rarer, is their consideration of the importance of
having videos for their singles. A video of your single, which
was once considered an optional luxury, is now a standard,
vital and necessary tool if you are going to compete with
fellow independent recording artists for media and consumer
attention.
And, a video is even more important if you are going to
compete with major label artists. In fact, since having a video
for your single, particularly, your very first single from a new
release, is so vitally important, why would you even release a
recording without one in today’s music climate?
To me, that is like a soldier going to war with only a handgun
while leaving his automatic weapon behind in his barracks.
But, perhaps, in your mind, you believe that it is still very
expensive to produce videos for your singles. Even more,
while you are likely an expert on producing music, you
probably feel like an amateur when it comes to video
production. However, that need not be the case any longer.
So, I am going to show you a no-brainer approach to easily
getting a video produced for, at least, your first single from
your new release, if not all of your singles.
* Steps to Getting Your Video Singles Produced Cheaply *
1. After you have your mastered soundtrack, and have
selected your first single, you should then contact an area
college, university or art institute.
2. Tell the school’s administration department that you need
to get in touch with its “broadcast journalism” department.
3. When you reach the broadcast journalism department,
ask to speak to an “advisor” or “department head.”
4. Tell the advisor or department head that you are an artist
interested in getting a music video produced, and that you
would like to be put in touch with either a senior student or
graduate student who is majoring in broadcast journalism
with, perhaps, a concentration on “production” or “direction.”
You may also want to stress your preference for a student
who has experience with having produced music videos
already. Depending on the size of the school, there will likely
be several highly qualified student candidates.
In most cases, you will find video producers or directors who
will want to work from a script, which includes a story line, for
your video single. If that is the case, and you are in need of
a script, I would like to direct you to MuBiz.com, which can
produce a video script from your single. See the below link:
[http://www.mubiz.com/services.html#Video_Scripting]
You can also see a sample video script that I created for a
client at the below link.
[http://www.mubiz.com/vdoscript.html]
5. As for the low cost of getting broadcast journalism
students to produce your video, in quite a few cases, these
particular students are already in need of videos for their
class projects, and yours just may be the one that will pique
their interest. This is a no-cost method, and you will often
need to arrange this setup one semester in advance.
In other cases, students may either own their film equipment,
or be able to borrow school equipment for production. And,
in this case, there may be nominal charges, however, these
charges will be very affordable.
The best thing about this particular scenario is that, while you
will get the best production knowledge from the student, as
well as your video produced with the latest technology, you
cannot be charged commercial rates, such as if you used a
videographer or related service that officially operated in a
commercial status.
But, perhaps, the best thing about this avenue to take for
producing your video singles is that, not only will you be
able to bring your marketing and artist status up a notch by
having a video, you will now also have another product that
can be used two-fold:
1. For further promotion of your single
2. Able to sell another product on online music sales
sites as well as in retail outlets.
In some cases, you may also wish to offer it as a package
deal with your CD. Additionally, why not go a step farther
by incorporating it within your CD, placing it on DVD, as
well as making it available on video cassette for retailers
and consumer?
Note: Depending on the extensiveness of your production,
most videos can be produced and edited within two
weeks, if not sooner.