YouTube has totally transformed the world of entertainment for viewers and creators alike. People are watching more video than ever before; meanwhile, creators are scrambling to crank out content for the sake of educating, entertaining and making some serious cash in the process.
Likewise, the platform has opened up a massive window of opportunity for musicians. While it may be obvious to host and promote your own music via YouTube, bear in mind the need for vloggers and other creators to include instrumentals within their content. As a result, those who create such tracks have the potential for exposure and income by selling their instrumentals to bigger creators.
If you’re mulling over the idea of selling your own music to YouTubers or video streamers, you’re going to need to create the types of tracks that such creators are hungry for. But where do you start? Consider the following five types of instrumentals that span multiple genres which are perfect for video content.
Strings
Simply put, sometimes the best music for YouTube videos is that which is the most neutral and accessible. String-based compositions are perfect as they can be used for anything from serious subject-matter videos to light-hearted or inspirational content.
That said, creating such sounds can be a bit of challenge depending on current VST library. Thankfully, replicating the sounds of classical cellos, violins and harps is easy given the variety of downloadable Kontakt libraries and soundbanks which integrate seamlessly with your DAW.
Ambient Synths
Atmospheric, ambient synth sounds are perfect for time-lapse or nature-based videos. Considering the number of science-savvy YouTubers such as stargazers and documentarians, low-key tracks are appealing to creators who need something to fill in the background of their videos without distracting from the content itself. Take a lesson from some of the most famous synth soundtracks of the past to understand how to take a “less is more” approach to creating background noise.
Beats
Lo-fi, old-school hip hop beats are all the rage right now for videos of just about all types. For example, many vloggers will stick a beat in the background of their video while they’re going about their business or doing a voiceover.
Beats combined with piano samples are particularly popular right now among the millennial crowd, easy to produce with seemingly endless options for musicians who can pull some anywhere from classic compositions to jazz piano. If you know how to experiment with time signatures, you have all the freedom in the world to make killer beats.
The beauty of beat-making is that you can churn out a massive output of beats since all you need is a good eight or sixteen-second loop which can be repeated over and over. While there’s obviously going to be more competition among beatmakers due to the relatively low barrier to entry, cranking out some beats represents good low-hanging fruit if you’re familiar with the hip hop genre.
Acoustic Fingerpicking
Subtle acoustic guitar is the bread and butter of many YouTubers, including cooking channels, beauty vloggers and those who want to pair something lively with a montage. Not unlike beat-making, acoustic recordings don’t need to be complicated. For example, a fingerpicking loop of a simple four-chord progression is all you really need to come up with.
Hungry to finally get paid for your music? Selling instrumentals to YouTubers may very well be the way to go. With the ever-growing need for editors to insert royalty-free music into each and every one of their videos, filling the void with your own music could be your ticket to bigger and better things.
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