Marketing Music Videos in 2025 + 10 Video Ideas To Get Started

If you’re putting out music in 2025, video needs to be part of your strategy. This guide covers everything you need to know about marketing music videos in 2025 including how to leverage content, optimize SEO, and grow an audience.

Marketing Music Videos in 2025 + 10 Video Ideas To Get Started

by RYAN DILELLO via DIY Musician

Introduction

Do music videos still matter? The short answer is yes, but the role of the music video has changed since 1980’s MTV.

Today, music video views generally trail behind music streams. According to ChartMetric, 36 of the top 40 tracks released between 2022 and 2023 had accompanying music videos and on average, these videos garnered 374M views while the tracks accumulated a staggering 1.1B streams. 

And while there’s some variation in the differential across regional markets and genres, the gap between video views and song streams suggest that traditional music videos are not the primary music discovery tool they once were.

But that shouldn’t be surprising to any of today’s indie musicians, who’ve come to know social media as the predominant platforms for fan engagement. According to Yaguara, short-form videos receive 2.5 times more engagement than long-form videos and artists are using these clips to grow their audience and convert viewers into music listeners. Followers of popular musicians are routinely served behind-the-scenes looks, press feature collabs, daily vlog-type content, and song visualizers that create an immersive world that drives fandom.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to leverage video across formats to grow your audience, keep fans engaged, and build such a digital world around your artistry. 

10 ways you should be leveraging video in 2025

1. The official music video

A lead single makes a great candidate for a music video. Typically, you should choose a song that feels like your best step forward. From there, it’s about developing a video that captures the aesthetic, experiences, and themes of your release.

YouTube tends to be the main home for full-length music videos. You can break up the video into smaller clips to create ad content for Facebook and Instagram, where you can hook first time listeners and drive them to your socials or streaming platform pages.

Let’s be clear: the traditional full-song video is still relevant and valuable for today’s independent musician. But content trends suggest only your top fans will dedicate the time to watch a full video, so plan and measure performance of your music videos accordingly.

2. The song snippet video

Proud of a hook you wrote on the latest album? That’s where a short snippet video comes in. Typically, these clips include the chorus, breakdown, or main riff of a song.

Short snippet videos are great for social media advertising and organic TikTok posts, where you’re looking to stop the scroll with an attention-grabbing clip. Song snippets hook a new fan to your music and leave them wanting more. Enhance your song snippets with a call-to-action and a link to your latest music.

3. Visualizations

A visualization is a subtle graphic element that has some dynamic change to it. Many times it can be an image of your album art or similarly branded visuals.

Visualizations are not narrational in any way. They’re just videos that can loop without people realizing they’re looping. They can act as a sort of bridge between your official video and a song snippet. When you’re posting your music on social media, a visualization can serve as a background to a call to action or caption. 

4. Lyric videos and/or karaoke videos

A lyric video is just what its name implies: a video with the the lyrics to your song going across the screen. Diehard fans love lyric videos, even when they’re done very simply!

If you’ve already made an official video for your big song, you can take small portions of that and make short videos with the lyrics to the hook or even the verses over the video. This doesn’t take much work and you can have two or three small lyric videos pretty easily. As mentioned earlier, these type of snippet videos can work really well on TikTok.

5. Art track videos

Have you ever listened to a song on YouTube and the accompanying video was just the album art as a static image? That’s an Art Track video. YouTube Music automatically creates these for all songs in its catalog. If you distribute an album to YouTube Music, they will create an Art Track video for each individual song.

CD Baby distributes to YouTube Music. So if you’re distributing your music with us, your songs already have Art Track videos on YouTube!

6. Spotify Canvas and Apple Motion Videos

Spotify Canvas is a vertical video format on Spotify that loops footage the artist chooses while the song plays.

Generally artists will select a part of their music video that’s three to eight seconds long. The key here is that it’s a section of the video that looks good looping, so make sure to choose something that’s not too specific to one section of the song. Footage of your vocalist lip-syncing the hook looks weird when it’s looping and out of sync.

If you’re following this list in order and making videos as you go, you’ll already have some songs snippets made. Those can work great for Spotify Canvas videos. Just cut a part down to eight seconds and upload it through your Spotify for Artists account.

As with other forms of video we’ve covered here, Rotor makes it super easy to make Spotify Canvas videos. Sign up now and upload your video to easily make edits!

7. Short-form video

Of all the items on this list, short-form videos are currently the hottest trend — with the widest possible playing field. From Instagram Reels, to TikTok and YouTube Shorts, short-form videos are massively popular on today’s social media platforms.

The name is self-explanatory. A short-form video is a quick video that’s one minute, 30 seconds or even 15 seconds long. These are meant to be viewed quickly, shared with fellow users of the video platform, and then scrolled past to the next video.

The main difference between a short-form video and full length video is that short-form videos tend to be more casual in nature. In this case, the more amateur and less professional your video looks, the better it’s likely to perform (as long as the idea or the concept is creative and interesting, of course). And they don’t even need to have your music in them at all.

Short-form videos are fun, silly and off the cuff. For viewers, they’re a peak into your life when you’re not writing or recording your next masterpiece. They’re meant to help you connect with your fans and potential fans.

8. Cover song videos

Cover songs can be very useful in helping draw attention to your music, especially if you choose the right song to cover for your video. YouTube cover song videos are entire cottage industry and have been for over a decade, with some artists recording cover song videos exclusively and never attempting original compositions.

While you don’t have to go that far, making a few videos of you covering your favorite songs can be an extremely effective way to boost your audience. Just don’t pick too deep of a cut. Pick something appropriate for your genre or audience (or totally off the wall if you want to play into the silliness of a hardcore band covering an ’80s pop song) and get to work!

9. Live videos

Note that we didn’t say “livestream” video. That is something else entirely.

A live video is just that: a video of you playing in a live setting.

This is important if you want to work with a talent buyer or festival booker. Industry professionals who work in a live capacity want to know you can put on a good show, and a live video is proof of that. They’re not only looking at your set or individual song for performance quality, but also the audience’s enthusiasm. Because it doesn’t matter if your chops are exceptional if the audience is disinterested (or non-existent).

And it should go without saying, but make sure the live video is actually good! Hire a real camera person who knows what they’re doing to set up shop at the right spot with good equipment. Make sure the camera pans over the crowd a few times to capture their reaction. And afterwards, mix the sound so viewers can actually hear what you’re playing.

10. Behind the scenes videos

There are lots of options for this last one. A behind the scenes video can be anything from just setting your phone up and talking to your camera about the meaning of a song, or a unique experience that happened to you, or an announcement like a new album or tour.

If you really want to go the extra mile, a behind the scenes video can even be a finished documentary-style video about the making of your new album, or a tour diary that’s done as a series. Anything that lets your fans see what you’re like in real life.

Like we mentioned in the short-form video section, behind the scenes videos work great on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. A quick video of you practicing a new technique on an instrument, learning a cover song (which you can use to tease a forthcoming video featuring that song) or showing off some of your other hobbies can go a long way to your audience connecting with you on a deeper level.

Passing the 10 Point Test for Quality

Does your video pass the test in these 10 areas? Ask yourself the following questions. 

• Shareability — Is the video relatable, topical, or remarkable? Will the viewer feel cool or knowledgeable when they share the video with friends?
• Conversation — Does this video help me communicate with my fans, either directly IN the video, or as a conversation starter for other interactions (in the comments section on YouTube or elsewhere)? Will I appear comfortable and authentic?
• Interactivity — Does the video engage the audience in some way? Does it ask a question of them, showcase their participation, or encourage them to contribute to future videos?
• Consistency — Is there an element in this video that occurs throughout all my videos? A familiar face, setting, technique, or theme? Is the video “packaged” in a way that seems consistent with my other videos? Am I posting on a schedule?
• Targeting — Do I know who this video is FOR? Who is my audience, and is this video going to entertain or inform that audience? Will that audience be interested in only THIS video, or will they enjoy my other videos too?
• Sustainability — Do I have what it takes to keep doing this?
• Discoverability — Will my video show up in YouTube search results and be recommended as a related video? Am I using smart keywords and titles?
• Accessibility — Can a new viewer watch this video and appreciate it without having seen any of your previous videos? In other words, can this video stand alone?
• Collaboration — Is there an opportunity to work with another artist with a loyal following on YouTube? Can I feature them in such a way so they’re proud of the results, and will want to share this video with their audience?
• Inspiration — Do I really want to make this video?

Let Fans Find Your Videos: SEO Best Practices for Video

Make it it easy for fans to find your videos by following best practices for SEO and ensure your videos appear in search engine results pages (SERPs). That means properly uploading your videos to capture the keywords and intent of the fan searching for your content.

Let’s break that down.

• Title: This is the most essential element. Make sure if you’re uploading your music to a platform like YouTube, give it an accurate title then standardize your formatting. Such as “Artist Name – Song Title [Official Video]”
• Description: Describe the content of the video, focusing especially on the first couple sentences that will appear in SERPs and other short-hand video listings. Below that, you can include key information such as song lyrics and relevant links to enable viewers to engage further with your artwork.
• Tags: Providing your content with keyword tags can help make it more searchable and even more discoverable by new fans with similar interests. Platforms like YouTube will create some tags automatically, but it’s helpful to review them and optimize them for your content.
• Thumbnail: Perhaps an overlooked aspect, your thumbnail is the first thing a fan sees before clicking into your content. Choose a thumbnail that represents your content and intrigues someone to click.

Marketing Music Videos: Engagement with Short-Form Videos

Short-form videos are distinct for their snappy content, often scrappy production, and more personable feel. This kind of content is a sharp contrast to longer form content, but can be equally artistic! Here’s how you can make great social media videos that showcase your chops.

Step 1: Find Your “Thing”

Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts reward content that grabs attention fast. It’s your job as the video creator to decide what aspect of your musicality you want to showcase in your videos. Are your lyrics the star of the show, or do your instrumental or vocal skills rise above? Maybe you’re a production wizard, or your band has an awesome in-the-pocket groove. 

Spend some time considering what you most want to highlight about your group’s music or about yourself as a musician. Here are some examples of musicians and bands who’ve found their “thing”:

Step 2: Gather Your Tools

As a musician, you know how easy it can be to fall down the rabbit holes of gear.

Thankfully, like music, the gear used to make videos isn’t always the most important thing – it’s the product you get from using it. You don’t have to buy the most expensive camera, microphone, or software to make good content. The level of complexity you want to have with video production is truly up to you, and it can grow and adapt over time along with your skillset. 

Here are three levels of production you can use for reference:

Basic – Today’s cell phones have excellent cameras and microphones built right in. Use your phone to shoot and edit your videos natively in the apps you’ll be posting to.

Elevated – Level up by fine-tuning the settings on your phone’s camera and shooting independently from the social apps. Use the “back” camera (the one opposite the screen side) and set your device to record in 4k, 60fps. Pair this tactic with an audio recording device like a Zoom recorder, Audigo, or another mic hooked up to your phone with an iRig Pro I/O. Try using straightforward software to edit your videos such as ByteDance’s CapCut, Instagram’s Edits, InShot, or iMovie.

Advanced – If you want your videos to look and sound polished, try shooting with a higher-quality digital camera such as a Canon G7X III, EOS R100, or Sony ZV1-F. For audio, use a nice mic and audio interface, and go as heavy or light on the production in your digital audio workstation as you want. Use any video editing software you prefer, but try Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, or DaVinci Resolve. 

Step 3: Find Your Setting

Location, location, location. Finding a great spot to shoot your videos can elevate them substantially and make them stand out from the pack. The outdoors can offer amazing views if you’re willing to make your setup portable. Look for settings that are beautiful or visually interesting in some way. If you prefer to stay indoors (or the weather’s on the gloomy side), set up your space in a way that showcases your personality. Clean up, hang art, and make your space match the vibe of the music–at least in the portion of the room that will appear on camera!

Step 4: Make It

Now it’s time for the fun part: making the content. Set aside a good chunk of time to set up, hit record, and get a take that you’re happy with. It may take a while to get a run that you feel good about posting (especially if you’re new to the process), and that’s okay. Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to get a take that’s 100% perfect – perfect is the enemy of good.

If you’re recording with a group of people, be sure to check in with every band member about how each take went for them personally. Your own best take may not have been your bandmate’s best, and vice versa. Don’t finish the shoot until you can all agree on “the one.”

Step 5: Make a Video, Then Another, Then Another…

Like music, shooting, editing, and publishing videos is a learned skill that you can get better and faster at with consistent repetition. Practice, anyone?

One great method to improve your editing chops is to find a social video that you like, and try to recreate it. Remember when you first started learning how to cover your favorite songs? You learned new chord progressions, instrumental/vocal techniques, or lyrical turns of phrase that ultimately made you a better musician. By learning to recreate the edits you see in these videos, you’ll be better equipped to make great content for your own music quickly and efficiently.

Step 6: Stay Organized With a Content Calendar

Once you’re on your feet with creating and posting video content for your music, you may find it useful to create a social media content calendar. Content calendars are exactly what they sound like: day-by-day plans of when, where, and what to publish. Try setting simple goals for yourself, like posting a music performance video every week on Mondays. Or, create a content plan around your upcoming release, outlining when you’ll post teaser videos, behind-the-scenes content, and videos showcasing your musical talents, all leading up to and following release day. You can even batch-create and schedule content to be published later using in-app tools in the platforms or a third-party social media management service.

Bring Your Music to Life with Spotify Canvas Videos

Along similar lines to short-form videos, Spotify Canvas videos are super short-form videos that can bring your album art to life. These looping clips are visible behind your album art as fans play your music on Spotify.

And did you know that using Spotify’s Canvas feature encourages listeners to interact with your song? Spotify’s data backs it up. If your song has a high-quality Canvas video, listeners are:

• 145% more likely to share your track
• 20% more likely to add your track to a playlist
• 9% more likely to visit your artist profile
• 5% more likely to stream your song

With the Canvas feature, you can upload 3-8 second looping videos for each of your tracks on Spotify.  These visuals allow you to build an immediate, high-impact emotional connection with current and potential fans, and show that you’re serious about your music.

You can now make Canvas videos quickly and easily using CDB Video Creator. Here’s how!

Step 1: Access the Video Creator

Log in to your CD Baby account and access the CDB Video Creator through Your Videos under the Manage tab. Choose the song or album you want to make videos for from your existing distributed releases.

Step 2: Select your background

Choose your desired background from our extensive library (over a million clips!) or upload your video.

Step 3: Add effects

Use the editing tool to refine the selection and trim the clip for a specific range — right down to the millisecond. Enhance your video with premium styles and effects, tailoring it to match your artistic vibe.

Step 4: Select your loop

Optimize the looping effect by choosing from three options: Hard-Cut, Rebound, and Fade Repeat.

Step 5: You’re almost done!

Preview your creation, upload your audio for synchronization, pay for your video, and download it. That’s it!

Once you’ve downloaded your video, you can log in to your Spotify for Artists account and upload it there to add it to your track. 

How do I upload my Canvas video to Spotify? 

Follow these steps:

• Select the relevant track within Spotify for Artists
• Click the + to select the right song
• Choose the video from your camera roll, or drag and drop from your desktop
• Trim the video to between 3-8 seconds
• Review and click Next to upload
• Verify your right to post the video content, then share it on social media
• Canvas videos give listeners an exciting new way to engage with your music. But remember: In order to use Canvas, you need to be a verified artist on Spotify.

CD Baby makes Spotify artist verification fast and simple. Once you’re a CD Baby client and you’ve claimed your Spotify for Artists account, you should see Canvas as an option.

Gain Fans by Turning Videos into Ads

You can instantly turn any Spotify track or YouTube video into an eye-catching, interactive ad that’s playable within the current window, using Show.co’s Ad Builder tool. You can target ads at music fans who visit websites related to your genre, so you know they’re the right audience.  

These ads are simple to build and incredibly effective. In fact, interactive ads get four times more results than traditional, static banner ads. 

How to create an Interactive Ad for your music:

1. First, go to Show.co’s Ad Builder tool and create an “Interactive Ad”
2. Next, drop in the URL to one of your YouTube videos, or a track on Spotify, Apple Music, or Soundcloud
3. Tell us where you want people to GO when they click on your ad
4. Then customize your ad and preview how it looks in real-time
5. Lastly, choose where you want your ad to appear, set your budget, and launch your music into the world!

With Ad Builder, it now takes less than five minutes to create an interactive ad that will reach real music fans online. All you need is a link to your song on Spotify or YouTube. We’ll do the rest.

Conclusion

Whether you’re preparing to film your first music video or looking for ways to improve your short-form video strategy, we hope this guide helps orient you to the major pillars of video for today’s musician.

The sheer variety of video tools and channels available to artists today can feel overwhelming, but here are 5 key takeaways from the guide.

1. Music videos still matter, but they’ve evolved: Full-length music videos are more for superfans than for discovery. Most music discovery happens via short-form, social-first video formats.
2. Short-form video is the most powerful tool in 2025: Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube shorts dominate fan engagement. Aim for consistency and don’t sweat the production: snappy, lofi, and authentic videos will outperform overly polished content
3. Leverage native video tools like Spotify Canvas: Canvas can increase shares, profile visits, and playlist adds by showing Spotify you take the platform seriously.
4. Promote your video content like a marketer: Interactive ads (via tools like Show.co) can turn your videos into clickable, monetizable assets. Ads that embed your music directly can help drive streams and empower you to collect more granular audience data.
5. Video SEO is key for gaining traction: Make your music easily searchable and suggestible by following best practices for SEO