Video is pretty much the way to promote music in 2025.
Because a good music video can still:
- capture our attention
- invite deeper engagement
- and organically reach new fans…
…. even in a world of short-attention spans and media saturation.
And if video can successfully do all the above, a great video will push the related track further than that music could’ve gone without visuals. Which is why the music industry is so laser-focused on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube.
Why independent music creators should focus on video
Unlike other areas of music promotion — like publicity, radio, and even playlists — where major labels and notable acts have a clear advantage, video is still a fairly “democratized” way of reaching audiences.
And that’s mostly thanks to the recommendation engines of social platforms. Because the main goal of TikTok, Reels, and Shorts is to retain viewers. If content by an independent creator keeps people glued, it’s got the advantage.
It might be controversial to say that social platforms are meritocracies, but ya know, they’re not not meritocracies. And that’s good news for you. Because you can make great videos for your music!
Video can be overwhelming for some musicians though. Where to begin with so many different approaches, platforms, and formats!? Well, that’s why we put together this list of music video ideas and formats. If you had to prioritize one thing, I’d suggest short, vertical, single-camera, single-take, live-performance videos.
But as with anything in music, you’ll find the most success when you’re most creative. So check out the list below and choose whichever concept feels most inspiring.
10 types of music videos you should create
1. The official music video
The “official” music video isn’t dead.
It’s still very useful when promoting your music to media outlets. Some blogs still like to premiere official videos. Official video also make great nurturing content for new fans who are past the point of introductions, and who now want to dig deeper. So embed your best official video on your website’s homepage. And of course your diehard fans will enjoy full-length official videos too.
But keep in mind: “official” videos aren’t as useful at reaching new audiences on short-form platforms, and they can be expensive to produce, so don’t spend a fortune here. That quick video you shot in 5 minutes and posted to TikTok could likely find way more viewers than the “official” video you worked on for weeks.
2. The song-snippet video
Just make a video for the hook of your song. In fact, make a lot of different versions. Get creative. No one said you can only have one video for a song. And if the video is only 15 seconds long, you can create more options!
These could be live performances, “live” lip-syncing to the recorded track, or more narrative/abstract, like a segment from the official video (but vertical).
Check out these social trends in music video promo for tons of inspiration!
3. Visualizations
These are the types of videos that have graphics that move to the music. Most often, they’re widescreen orientation.
Just like the official music video, these won’t be great for outreach to strangers, but for the loyal fans, they’ll dig it. So make them as subtle or artsy as you want.
4. Lyric videos or karaoke videos
These are great for fans who want to sing along, or read along and get the words correct!
Same caveat as earlier though: These are videos for existing fans, not for wowing brand new audiences.
5. Art Track videos
An Art Track is a video that displays a static image of your album artwork while the music plays. It’s handy to have.
And thankfully, YouTube creates them for you automatically when you distribute tracks to YouTube Music. So you might not even need to MAKE these, but rather just grab the link and share!
6. Spotify Canvas video
A Spotify Canvas is the short looping video that plays on Spotify. You can upload them within Spotify for Artists.
They should be roughly three to seven seconds long. There aren’t many rules here, so get creative. Just remember that the video will not be “synched” to the song, so you might want to avoid clips of someone singing specific lyrics.
By the way, you can swap it out anytime. So try different things and see what works best.
7. Music-related short-form videos
It’s a category of its own, but think of all the shorter videos you see artists making on TikTok and Reels that relate to their music without being an actual music video or performance video.
There’s a lot to dive into, and countless options to explore, so let your personality shine.
To repeat: These videos should be about YOUR artistry and YOUR personality. Because that’s the thing that’s going to differentiate you and keep people coming back for more.
8. Cover song videos
These work extremely well for finding new audiences, and you should definitely use them! Even if your focus is on original music, remember that acts from The Beatles to Adele leveraged cover songs to broaden their appeal.
Best of all, with social platforms, you don’t even need to do the WHOLE song. It could just be a TikTok of you singing the chorus.
And they can be stripped-down and acoustic covers, or full-on stunt productions of Taylor Swift hits. Or anything in between.
9. Live videos
I mentioned above that you might want to concentrate on simple, live performance videos for social. And yes, those videos can be VERY simple, as long as the music is good.
But I’m not talking about social here. I’m talking about widescreen documentation of your performance skills. Basically, the type of video you would want to show a talent buyer, concert promoter, or house concert host to prove to them that you put on a good show and keep audiences entertained.
So try to capture footage at a venue. Just don’t post boring videos from the back of the room where you appear small onstage and the club looks half empty.
Sound and visual quality are helpful, but the main priority is to prove you’re filling venues, wowing crowds, and keeping people in the room!
So try to capture something magical about your performance skills, whether it’s your voice, your instrumental prowess, your production skills, or your songwriting, but also capture the audience energy.
10. Behind-the-scenes videos
Give your fans a peek behind the curtain of what it’s like to be an artist. Share the sights and sounds (and smells) of being on tour, in the studio, at a radio station, or the rehearsal space. You could do this as a mini-documentary, as an AMA (talking to the camera), or as a quick vertical video.
There are, of course, many other forms of video you can create to promote your music. And you can mix and match any of the above — add lyrics on-screen during your “official” video, do a live cover song snippet, etc.
The most important thing is: Realize the power and importance of video for moving your music forward. And then go make a video!
