How Much Does it Cost to Make a Music Video?

As an artist, you naturally want to share your music with the entire world, and platforms like YouTube, Facebook and even Instagram prove that you can interest and appeal to countless music fans. In this blog, you can find out just how much it costs to produce a music video, as guest-blogger and singer-songwriter Kevin explains that no budget is too small.

Option 1: DIY Music Video (Cheapest)
Option 2: Hiring a Fledgling Videographer
Option 3: Going All the Way With a Professional Production Team
In short
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Option 1: Do-It-Yourself Music Video (Cheapest!)

Budget: £550

For my social media postings, I’ve made tons of simple video clips inside living rooms to show my audience how I sound. It’s a quick, easy and cheap way to create content, and after a one-time £550 investment in the right video equipment, you’re all set to shoot a new video every week. You will need to know your way around a camera but hey, lots can be learned from YouTube tutorials.

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Music Video?

What’s Needed?

A camera, obviously. A decent DSLR model with video functionality (e.g. the Panasonic Lumix DMG-G7) should set you back around £400-500. Of course, you’re nowhere without a proper stand (£35) and some LED lighting (£50) won’t hurt your on-camera look either. Actually, videos shot in bad lighting conditions tend to attract much fewer viewers.

Ways of Filming

On a small budget, you have two options. The first is to record the whole thing in one take and from the same angle; the second is to record the audio first and playback to it from multiple camera positions. I personally prefer the second option, simply because different angles add different perspectives to videos. Using free software like Lightworks, all of the clips can then be neatly ordered and arranged into a smooth video.

Option 2: Hiring a Beginner Videographer

Budget: £1,000 – 1,200

If your pockets are a little deeper and you need a pro-grade video for promotional purposes, this is the option I highly recommend. With a budget of roughly £1,000 to £1,200, a fledgling videographer combined with decent equipment can make for an amazing music video.

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Music Video?

The Videographer

Most videographers that have just started out and are still building up a sizeable portfolio are happy to provide their services at a discounted rate. Of course, you’ll be making clear agreements about whether or not they get to use the footage to promote themselves. A day’s worth of filming, post-production and completion of the deal should cost around £650.

Required Gear

The downside here is that there’s a chance that the person you hire doesn’t have the right gear for the job, including professional lights, sliders and lenses. Fortunately, there’s the possibility to hire this kind of equipment for a day. Even I recently rented about £250 worth of stuff, just to boost the quality of the video we were filming that day.

The Location

The location is important too, because you want one that matches your style and image. To keep the costs within acceptable range, I’ll stick to a single location here. Depending on the place, booking a location can cost up to £150, so if you know of a brilliant spot where you can film for free, that’d be even better. If possible, ring up an old friend or two to see if they know the perfect spot.

Option 3: Going All the Way With a Professional Production Team

Budget: > £5,000

If you’re a signed artist with sufficient financial back-up, you can go all the way by hiring a professional production team. Michael Jackson once famously spent six million dollars on a single music video, but I’m guessing you probably don’t want to take it that far.

The Production Team

The starting tariff for a professional production team is around £4,500. The process begins with a special team that comes up with a well thought out concept, possibly including a storyline to match your song and its lyrics.

All’s Accounted For

On filming day, there’ll be a lot of people on the set. There’s the director, the producer, the director of photography, the gaffer, the makeup artist, the runner, and the list goes on. There might even be actors and actresses to play the roles in the narrative. The best part about a production team is that you won’t have to bother with any details; those are taken care of by them!

Locations

It goes without saying that the price shoots up when want to shoot film at multiple locations, let alone when you decide film abroad. To keep things manageable, I’d advise not to go for more than two different locations.

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Music Video?

In Short

As you’ve seen, a relatively simple music video doesn’t have to cost all that much. It might require a bit more of your own input and creativity, but if you spend some time getting to know your way around video editing software, great results await. Granted, a professional production team gets you the highest quality but certainly isn’t always the most effective way to reach your fans.

Have you made your own music video recently? Let us know how you did it and what it cost you!