How Much Does A Music Video Cost?

How Much Does A Music Video Cost?

Music video budgets vary wildly – there is no such thing as a set figure for a music video. It’s true!

Sure, you can spend millions like Michael Jackson on a video but you can still have something good looking , nicely produced and well edited from as little as £1500 and upwards. For example, this covers pre-production time, the shoot with a 2 man crew, HD camera and lenses and the edit of the video.

Spending money on a professionally shot video will do more for your career than a cheap, student shot video will ever do. If you won't invest in yourself...why will anyone else?

What it comes down to, really, is what can you afford for the budget and what do you want to happen in the video?

These two go hand in hand – the more you want to happen in the video, the more budget you need.

For bands, a performance in a good location with interesting lighting, perhaps a track and dolly for additional camera movement, is enough to showcase you in action without breaking the bank.  It can be done in a day and shot with a small crew.

Of course this can be developed further – particularly for solo acts – by utilising multiple locations to add more visual variety to the video and to enhance the production values of the video. Locations can be expensive to hire so if you can obtain the usage of locations via friends or colleagues, with little to no charge, then go for it. It can only benefit the video!

A storyline – or narrative - is always an option for the video – it can be loosely based around the song lyrics or themes of the song or it can be a totally literal visual interpretation or have absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics or it could just be simple, plain visuals to accompany the music.

Some storylines can be shot in half a day, alongside a performance – this is usually applicable to solo acts – but they often require a separate day to shoot them in so that they aren’t rushed.

The cost of doing a narrative is again down to you and what you want – a simple, actor led storyline is less costly than one involving multiple people in lots of locations. For example, our Grave Digger video featured a team of re-enactors, all in period costume and shots against green screen and was expensive to do whereas the storyline to the E.N.V video was shot on locations sourced by the artist and done in half a day with one actress.

If you want to have special effects, explosions, crane shots, flash cars or whatever it might be, in your video – as long as the budget is there, it can be shot.

Each video is different and we tailor the production size to suit the video's needs and the budget. Most shoots last a day or two and have a two or three man crew, plus a two or three day edit but it all depends on what you're wanting.

If you are looking for a music video for yourself or your band, come and talk to us. We have shot videos for lots of different budgets and lots of different contents and will help you get the best video possible for your budget.

We look forward to making your next video...