The best music video ideas on a low budget

If you’re like most independent musicians, there may not be a whole lot of extra cash left in your band’s bank account after recording, mixing and mastering costs, but promoting your new record is still a necessity.

In this article we provide some music video ideas for DIY bands to be organised and execute on a low budget.

How to organise yourself

A music video is a big project, and like any big project, it takes a lot of planning. Starting to record videos without a strategy is just not a good idea because you want to give your band and yourself the finest possible representation of your aesthetic and artistic value to your followers.

Planning is essential, your shoot will be in chaos without it.

Before taking any action, respond to the following questions: When is going to happen? What will we wear, exactly? How will we go to the shooting site? What tools do we require? Is there a certain dance to perform? What’s the speech? and so forth.

Ask your friends to help you out with your music video ideas

You do not need to pay for professional videographers and hire performers. Not when you can gather a few of your closest friends and other creatives to assist with the project! Most of the time, using people you know to make an illusion of a crowd or act as extras is a much more cost-effective option than paying actors.

Think about what your friends like and what they are interested in. Any friend with photography, graphic design or cinematography experience can be super helpful.

You wouldn't believe how willing an artistic friend might be to help out. Like you, they can't wait to improve their skills, build up their own portfolios, and accumulate more experience, proposing new music video concepts as well, why not!

Speak about a story

By telling a compelling story, you may make your music video stand out from the crowd. People will be hooked in and want to watch the video all the way through if it has an engaging story. Make a video that lets your audience know who you are for real!

The lyrics of the song have a story and an idea behind them, fundamental to make music video. Who better then you know the lyrics of your songs and what you want to transmit with them?!? Study the lyrics, express them in any movements and gestures, matching the video with your personalities, every band has its own one.

Location

Finding a unique location is a matter of doing the best you can with what you have. Try and find a location that’s easily accessible like your home, studio, or a friend’s place. If you want to film in a public space (like on a famous street in your city), you will need a permit, just be aware of this.

Whenever you choose your location, ask these questions to yourself:

- Can you film from different spots within the same location?
- Is it somehow unique?
- Does it resonate with you?
- Is this location related to your music?

If you can, use green screen as an alternative, and then add some cool graphics on it using a video editing program. We all know that a great movie needs to be filmed in an amazing place, but shooting portion of the footage in front of a green screen and putting an incredible or fantasy location in the background would draw in a lot of viewers. Use your ideas and creativity!

Lightening

Good lightening is everything! Doesn’t matter how much you spent on equipment, actors, fuel, food etc. Without a right level and quality of light you won’t succede.

To get the best use of lighting, choose an outdoor location and shoot into the natural light. Or, alternatively, shoot in a room with lots of windows and hence, lots of natural light.

Ideally in the morning or afternoon, when it’s bright out, it’s the best time of the day for shooting. If you decide on an outdoor location, it should be cloudy to avoid being blasted by the sun. In the worst case scenario, you will need to rent a lightning kit, and yes, this is definitely worth the price.

Travel footage

Travel footage could be one of the many great music video ideas. When travelling through interesting backgrounds such as forests, mountains, deserts, or foreign cities, turn on the camera and capture the moment! Editing those videos and mixing them to the rhythm of your music can bring spectacular results, as in lots of best indie movies videos.

Promote you music and videos on social networks

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, etc. are certainly game changers when it comes to promoting your music and videos. Being yourself and going with the flow can help you understand when and what to post on every particular platform.

You must invest some of your time and money in them while trying to avoid becoming overwhelmed and burned by the content creation that those platforms require.

In contrast, Calypsoroom enables you to listen to the same music with anybody you like, simultaneously, without having to create any material. Although at the moment you are unable to watch any videos together in Calypsoroom, meeting your fans in person and sending them the link to you videos can be impactful!

The best music video ideas - Conclusion

These are some music video ideas to produce a great music video on a low budget. Promoting your music and videos should be exciting and should be done in the most natural way possible.

If you liked this post and would want to read more tips for your music career and general information about the music industry, please visit our blog section.

You're here because you love music, so please try to listen to it together with your friends or strangers, at the same time, connected by webcam in CalypsoRoom.

In CalypsoRoom we believe music is the most powerful tool to bring people together, and for this reason, we developed an online music social network where you can connect with friends or strangers while listening to music simultaneously, connected via webcam.

Are you a music artist or label and do you want to give your music a further dimension? Do you own or co-own the master and publishing rights to your music? If yes, consider to post it on CalypsoRoom: it’s free, you keep 100% of your copyright, you promote your music in a new way, and you get a new revenue stream! Check it out.

Thanks for reading,
CalypsoRoom Team

#marketing #musicartists #recommendations #videos

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Written by CalypsoRoom Editorial Team
The CalypsoRoom Editorial Team is a skilled and diverse group of writers, researchers, and industry specialists who have access to Calypso's data and information in order to give you broad knowledge about the music industry as well as helpful advice to help you manage your music and dancing career.

Updated January 2023