It is easy to focus too much on details such as the message and graphics quality of your explainer video and forget the music.
With the average attention span of human beings standing at eight seconds, you need to give your audience a reason to keep watching the video. The right music will establish an emotional connection with the listeners and hold their attention until the end.
Music will give your video a professional feel that matches your brand’s tone. It will also break the monotony of your explainer video and provide it with life.
But you need to pay attention to the type of music you use. The wrong background music or incorrect usage can significantly reduce the quality of your video. It could distract your audience and cause you to fail in passing across your message.
The music should complement the script of your video and not compete with the narration or visuals. The simpler it is, the more effective it will be on your audience.
Owning the Rights to the Music Vs. Using Royalty-Free Music
Using the latest hit song on your video may sound like an awesome idea, but the cost of acquiring royalty to use the music will break your budget. Using copyrighted music without a license is not an option either. It could attract expensive legal suits and costly fines.
The cost of royalty should not be an excuse to have boring explainer videos. Especially when you can find and use royalty-free music for free on Sounds Create .
Also, you can check our list of best royalty-free music websites and find the best music for your next explainer, marketing or YouTube video.
Why Royalty-Free Music is a Better Option
Royalty-free music enables you to use original and creative content that is tailored to add a little color to your video without compromising on professionalism. You only need to pay a purchasing fee once. You can then use it for any future productions without incurring additional costs or giving credit to the creator.
If you need a culturally recognizable song, such as the theme song of a popular movie, you can still get a melody that resembles the original song and work with it.
How Is The Track Supposed To Affect Your Audience Emotionally?
You must have noticed how background music in a movie accelerates your emotions and increases your reaction to certain scenes. You can use it to create the same effect on your explainer video.
The Psychological Effect of Music
Music triggers psychological processes that evoke emotions. People unconsciously smile when listening to happy music. This is because it activates the zygomatic muscle that controls facial expressions. Sad music activates the corrugator muscle, which causes the eyebrows to wrinkle.
The type of sound you choose should evoke emotions that have your listeners looking at your brand or company in a specific way. For instance, cheerful and energetic sounds will build a happy and excited mood. And your audience will associate a humorous and positive character with your company.
How Do You Maximize on the Emotional Effect of the Music on the Audience?
The volume of the sound will affect your ability to evoke emotions. The music should play in the background and be hardly noticeable. If your explainer video has a narration, the music should not have vocals. Having two vocals will distract the listener and fail to achieve the intended effect.
The beat should be steady, and the melody should be simple and clean. A sudden thudding bass or guitar solo in the middle of the video will break the emotional effect the music has on the audience.
You can tell if the music is steady enough by looking at its waveform. A waveform is a visual representation of the song. It indicates the song’s power and volume. A great background melody will have a waveform that remains steady all through.
Here is a picture of a steady waveform.
Image source: Pixabay
If there are pauses in the melody, use them to highlight the most important details of your message.
What is Your Audience’s Interests in Music?
There is a wide selection of background music and different genres, which can get confusing. But it is easy to narrow down your selection to one genre, depending on your target audience. You need to know your audience’s age, preferences, and affiliations.
There is no one-size-fits-all kind of music. Different age groups and market segments will have different tastes. You need to identify the genre that fits and speaks to your target audience. The kind of music you would use on a video for a fashion house would be different from that of a new app or software.
If your audience is made up of professionals, investors, and people in business, choose corporate tones. A younger audience will respond better to tones such as hip hop, indie rock, and dance music.
Carry out adequate research on the type of music the target audience responds to best. Look at other explainer videos from your competitors that have performed well.
There are numerous websites that can make work easier for you, such as this comprehensive analysis from Statista.
Image source: Statista
Take Into Account the Tone and Subject of the Explainer Video
The sound should also match the tone of the subject at hand. What role will the music play in the video? Listen to your narrative. Is it serious or humorous?
The visuals of the video will also affect the type of music you choose. If you will be using animation, there is music created for animation that you can use.
A Few Examples …
If you want to pass on a message on a sensitive matter, such as cancer care, an upbeat sound would not be a good choice. You would need something gentler and soothing like acoustic or ambient melodies.
For food-related videos, guitar pop music would be an excellent choice, while minimal pop would suit a tech-related video. If your message is meant to stir your listener’s curiosity, go for electro.
If the tone of your message is bold, you should minimize the music you use and go for subtle sounds. The same case applies to instructional videos where you want the viewers to focus on the content.
Enhance product and brand recognition by adding sounds usually associated with your company or the product involved in the video. For instance, if you are creating a tutorial on how to use an app, include the sounds integrated in the app to create familiarity.
The bottom line is that your music should not stand out. It should blend in. The music should be a means to add meaning to your message.
Conclusion
We are living in a digital world that is over-saturated with information, and it is getting harder for human beings to concentrate on one thing for longer than a few seconds. We want to move to the next link, website, blog, or tweet with new and more interesting information.
Adding music to your explainer video will breathe life to it. The psychological effect of the right music will stir the viewer’s emotions. It will hook the audience and have them watch the video to the end.
Ensure that you are using royalty-free music that is right for your listeners. It should be low-key and blend in with the tone and subject of your message. The volume should be low but audible enough to add the right mood to your video.
The right music will enhance the overall impact of your explainer video.
David Freudenberg
