If you're an indie music artist, then you probably know the feeling of angst that follows the prospect of creating a music video.
First of all, what? Second of all, how?
And, of course probably the biggest obstacle...
How much is it going to cost?
The good news is you can actually create a great music video on a $0 budget.
Here are some ideas to help you get started
1. Free Gifs & Memes
Gifs and memes are already so popular, why not use them to tell to story of your music?
This is also very simple and easy to do.
Just go find some gifs and/or memes that fit the mood and aesthetic of your music, and edit them together in a way that makes sense.
2. Lyric Cards
Another very simple music video idea that doesn't cost anything (except maybe some paper and markers if you don't have them already) is the lyric card video.
This was made famous by Bob Dylan, and you can see how he did it in the video above.
All you have to do is find some place interesting to stand and and flip card that have your lyrics written on them as your song places.
To make this even more interesting, you might try doing this in several different locations, and then you edit all of that footage together.
3. Computer Screen Capture
Another cool idea is just recording your computer screen and using that as the footage for your music video.
Above you can see a really cool example of this that Tycho did. He has several different videos playing on the screen at once, and then simply types the lyrics in an open document as the music plays.
Very attention-grabbing, but also free to do!
You could even show footage from your DAW where you recorded and mixed the track as well.
4. Interesting Location
Another zero-budget music video idea is to simply find an interesting location near you and record yourself lip-synching your song.
You could even find a couple of different locations and edit them together.
Or, you could do what Coldplay did, and make the whole thing slow motion.
5. Household Items
There's no music video more famous for using household items than Ok Go's "Here It Goes Again".
Of course, there video wasn't exactly zero budget (unless you happen to have half a dozen treadmills lying about).
But you can take this same concept and apply it for your music video.
Get creative, and think about what regular household items you can use to make a music video.
6. Random Places In Your House
Similar to the last music video idea, you can create a music video of you performing and random places in your house.
Matt and Kim did a great job of this with their music video "Daylight".
Of course, they took things out of the house as well, and included the back of a taxi and a garbage dumpster, but don't feel like you have to go that crazy.
Just think about what places in or around your house would make for an interesting video if you were to also try to perform your song there.
7. Travel Footage
If you travel a lot, you could edit together some travel footage and make a music video out of it.
Or, you could use free travel footage clips from a platform like Pexels.
8. Music Visualizer
You can also just create a simple music visualizer to accompany your video footage.
9. Stop Motion
Stop motions is when you take individual frames or pictures and put them together to create the illusion of motion.
Stop motion never gets old, and it's always visually interesting, so consider making a stop motion music video.
A great example of this is another Ok Go music video, which you can see above.
Technically speaking, if you are going to be moving yourself or other people through the use of stop motion, it's called "Pixilation". But hey, we'll just stick with calling it stop motion.
Stop motion is completely free to create, but the downside is it is time consuming.
To make things easier on yourself, you can create stop motion videos on your phone using an app like Stop Motion Studio, which will make this process much easier.
10. Montage
You could also create a music video from a simple montage of photos or video clips.
The key is just to keep everything moving.
If you've ever watched a history channel documentary, you'll know that I'm talking about.
A lot of those documentaries are just pictures, but the "camera" is constantly panning in, out, down, up, right, or left over the images.
By having movement, you are helping to capture your viewer's attention so they keep watching.
Bonus: Other People Listening
This one is a bonus because it's not quite a music video, but it also kind of is.
This video is really fascinating because this band simply went around and recorded strangers' reactions to hearing their song for the first time.
As a result, you hear the listeners talking over the track as it's playing, which is definitely really interesting, but also why I wouldn't quite call it a music video.
That said, it's great to have all kinds of videos surrounding your music as an indie artist (and not just music videos) so definitely consider trying this one out.
Get More Fans, Fast!
Alright, now that you have some great, zero budget music video ideas, go create some videos!
However, creating music videos is just one small part of the process for growing your music fan base.
You want to ensure that people who find your videos actually stick around and become "super fans".
If you want to learn how you can grow your fanbase, fast, then grab my free guide below.
It will walk you through the proven 7-step "fan building formula" that successful indie artists are following to grow massive fanbases and build a full-time income through their music.
Get More Fans Fast!
Click below to download my free Fan-Funnel Formula, which will outline the only 4 things you need to master in order to create "Superfans" and make a living from your music.
I hope you found this post in 10 no budget music video ideas helpful!
If so, feel free to share, and let me know in the comments below...
