Do you create videos for your company? Whether you’re creating YouTube videos for your business, releasing video ads or explainers, or creating educational content, adding background music behind the main dialogue takes your video from boring to watchable. Choosing the right music is so important, but why?
Video is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to reaching your target audience today, whether it’s through promotional content or telling a narrative or story. While visuals are the primary focus of a video, music is a significant facet of what makes the medium such an engaging form of content. The right background music is like a pair of glasses. You need them to see the vision of the video clearly, but the right ones disappear into the background, allowing you to enjoy the experience.
If you take a look at some of the most successful and effective video content made by top brands or influential creators, you’ll see that their use of background music of different genres from different artists helps their videos stand out. Using music in your videos can make them more professional, expressive, and enjoyable for viewers.
1) Set The Tone & Evoke Emotion
Try to think of long-form video content like movies or TV without any background music for the entire piece. You can’t, can you? That’s because music allows the viewer to connect to what they’re seeing.
Romance, combat, suspense- the right music behind the action helps evoke the emotions of that particular scene. You can even add humor to a video by pairing a simple task with tense music or dropping the beat right when the punchline occurs.
When you want to create an emotional connection between your video and your audience, music is one of the fastest and easiest ways to do so. You can liven up your viewers with high-tempo beats or encourage them to be more contemplative with slow, steady rhythms. Background music is a powerful tool.
Viewers also expect and appreciate music behind their video content. They’re accustomed to hearing it, taking cues from it, and moving from one scene to the next with it. Whether it’s a reality TV show, a file, a YouTube video, or an ad, viewers want music with their video.
The somewhat subconscious effect music has can enhance your viewers’ experience and truly allow you to create the right mood.
Here’s an example of a video using music to evoke a connection with the audience.
2) Create More Dynamic & Interesting Videos
People nowadays have shorter attention spans when they’re simply browsing or scrolling. Media and advertising are oversaturated in the current landscape, and this is unlikely to change. While it can be difficult to stand out, we’re encouraged from a young age to respond to music and interact with it.
Background music engages your audience and captures their attention because it gives their brain a textural component to grab onto. People, in general, are very sensitive to musical cues. We even expect them to a certain extent. You can help viewers remain focused on your message when you pair it with interesting music.
Music can add texture, color, and depth to your video and keep your viewers engaged by adding a layer of enhanced interest that reinforces the message you’re trying to convey.
Here is another example of a video. This time one that uses music to keep you watching.
3) Music Takes Your Video To The Next Level
The overall production value and cohesiveness of your video can also improve by adding music. Professional, well-constructed videos that flow appeal to viewers more. Background music bolsters video transitions, allowing them to appear smoother as things flow from one idea or scene to the next, particularly if you’re using jump cuts.
Background music can also fill in moments that would otherwise be silent, creating a more enjoyable experience that could seem like “dead air” if you were to leave it just a visual with no sound.
Sometimes there is only unrelated noise, such as street noise. Instead of an awkward gap, the music maintains the energy of the moment and keeps your viewers engaged.
Complete silence in a video can actually be very uncomfortable, and many will think it’s unusual. You could even see poor viewer numbers because they’ve lost interest and their minds are wandering. Background music can even disguise microphone hiss or tamp down the distracting wind noise from an outdoor shoot.
Background music enhances the other main elements of the video. It helps people stay engaged, encourages them to feel the emotions you’re trying to evoke and enhances the professionalism and entertainment value of your brand videos.
Here is one more example of a video that truly takes it to the next level with music.
So, now that you know why it’s important to use music, how do you go about getting it for your video?
How To Get Music Added To Your Videos
Not all brands have a professional video editor on hand who might have access to a library of stock music that’s approved to use in videos. Hiring in-house can be expensive and finding the right person can take a great deal of time. If you’re looking for a freelancer the results and available tools can be hit or miss. Worse, if you don’t have a large budget you may be sacrificing the quality of music for a lower price tag.
There are also stock music sites that provide access to music that you can use with your videos. However, the options for premium music often come with a price tag, and if you’ll be doing this frequently it can quickly get expensive to purchase individual songs for each video. Additionally, if you’ll need other editing services for your videos, a professional will likely have the tools necessary to ensure the sound quality and clipping are the best they can be.
When you need high-quality video editing, including adding background music and sound editing, as well as graphic design, copywriting, and more, a flat-rate creative services subscription can offer access to all the required assets and tools to create an engaging video for a flat monthly rate.
The most beneficial of these types of subscriptions is the comprehensive option you can find at Flocksy.
Getting The Perfect Music for Video with Flocksy
With Flocksy video creation and editing services, you can enhance your video project with background music right from the intuitive dashboard and get the audience-engaging effects you want in no time.
Starting a background music project for your video is easy.
All you need to do is go to the project request page by clicking the “Create new project” option on the dashboard. You’ll first select the option for a video project, and from there, you’ll want to choose “add background music” as the subcategory.
There are also several other categories to choose from if your video needs additional edits, including openings, transitions, and subtitles. Now, you’ll want to describe your project and the type of music you’d like to use. Remember what we talked about and consider the mood you’d like to evoke and the actions you want your audience to take. You can even include reference videos and links to music or styles that you enjoy.
Another good idea is to provide the video editors with a description of what your goal is for the video, what you’ll be using it for, and if there is a particular style you’re trying to emulate. It’s possible your video editor can provide additional guidance to ensure the video captures your audience’s attention and leaves them wanting more.
Soon, you’ll have a professional video that’s been edited by someone who can capture your vision with the highest quality and speed.