Musicians Step by Step Guide to Great YouTube Videos

Dave Kusek is the founder of the New Artist Model online music business school for independement musicians, performers, recording artsits, producers, managers and songwriters.  He is also the founder of Berklee Online…and provides some step by step instructions to help Musicians create great YouTube Videos below.

1) Video Concept

Creating a concept for your video is a crucial step.  You ultimately want all of your videos to relate back to your music, but all your videos do not need to be covers or music videos.  New fans may be drawn to covers, but subscribers want interesting content too.  Variety is important.  One tip is you can create original videos, cover videos, Q&A’s from your fans on Twitter or Instagram, and live show footage…

2) Video Quality

The quality of your video is very important.  You don’t need to have the best camera available, but you need to make sure your lighting is good.  Try filming during the day with natural light for good results.  You should be focusing your energy on sound quality, so if you make an investment, make sure you invest in a mic to pick up sound properly rather than relying on your cameras built in mic.

3)  Filming

Filming can be a big task, especially if you don’t have a clear idea on what you’re going to film.  Try writing down some ideas or making a list or storyboard so your ideas are visualized before you start filming.  This will help you get better shots in a shorter amount of time

4) Editing

This often isn’t an easy taks but good editin can make a boring video concept really come to life.  There are a lot of inexpensive editing programs you can start out with, like FinalCut Pro.

Make sure your video looks professional with smooth transitions.  Try adding video to the background to add more interest if  you aren’t filing a cover, music video or live footage…just make sure you use royalty free or creative commons license for your music in your backgrop.  Also try timing your transitions  with your music to make your video look more professional.