First Music Video? 10 Best Websites for Free Stock Video Footage

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If you are Do-It-Yourself Rock Stars like us, you know that video is one of the cornerstones of your empire. Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engines in the world? (1) It would be a shame not to have your music or your band’s music listed. If you know like we know, YouTube is one of the ways that fans can find you, enjoy you, and share with others. So, yes, you probably need to get that video channel going. What’s more is that you need to have all of your available (and sale-able) songs up there sooner than later. Therefore, you need to create videos. You need to get them created and published as quickly as you make them, but you still need to show-off your talent. If you’re not already into creating videos, then you might be a little lost when it comes to making that happen.

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Though these gifts of pre-recorded footage won’t help you completely nail it—you’ll need someone dedicated to putting all this to work for you by editing, etc.—but it will get you going in the right direction. You make the music and these websites provide some super great footage that almost anyone can put together, so that your video pops.

There was a time when I thought that stock footage was for the faint of heart. And there was a time when I made our videos from scratch (see our from-scratch “Hero” video). While I loved the result, I remember how long and agonizing it was to film the footage, review the footage, store the footage, and pull just the right pieces of footage into a project. Again, while I loved it, I also realized how labor-intensive and time-consuming it all is. It was only when creating our video logo (add in link) did I start investigating other options.

Well, that depends…. How creative are you? Sure, someone may have exactly the same clips as you, but it is highly unlikely that they will configure them like you do. It is what you do with them that makes a video come together. In other words, it’s in your editing that you will make your unique statement that will showcase the best of your music. Trust me, if the song is amazing, the video won’t matter as much as you think. As a person who had NO video, to actually have a video channel up and running, so that folks can find your music is more important than nitpicking over what is actually in the video.

My other suggestion to make sure that you defeat the remote notion of your video looking like someone else’s is to download clips from a variety of these free stock footage websites and combine them. –Most people won’t bother to do that. –That will assure that you won’t be exactly like someone else. Also, as I’ve said before, include clips of your band scattered throughout the stock clips, so that each video has a more personal touch. (—Even cell phone clips of live performances and photo shoots help make a video more catered to suit underscoring how great—and gorgeous—your band is.) Again, when you’re starting from nothing and want to get in the game, it’s best to use the tools that make your job easier to get the job done.

Here's Day Thirteen of this 30 Day Challenge.

If it’s NOT video footage that you need, but graphic design help instead, check out “Our Dirty Little Secret.” You’ll find out what you need to get going on that YouTube video thumbnail, cool logo, album cover, or electronic media kit. And it’s easy to use.

Don’t get me wrong; easily accessing amazing free footage won’t do the work for you, but it certainly cuts a nice—and arduous—piece out of the process. This is why even if for just filling in the gaps between the footage you’ve already taken or, again, for creating an entire music video, these websites are a Godsend. What’s even better is that all of this footage is free to use. (You can, however, send them a donation on some of the platforms, if you would like.) That means that you will not be responsible to pay any royalties if and when your video blows up and you end up on MTV. That also means that YouTube won’t be taking your video down due to copyright infringement. –Yes, many creators illegally borrow footage from movies and other videos, but that does not make it right. Remember, you don’t want your ship to run aground, because did not into account your potential success.

You may be asking yourself why our advice to you matters. Well, because we were you less that 3 short years ago. We had no music videos and, in fact, we were a little intimidated by the idea of being in and of producing videos altogether. But we knew what I told you earlier—that YouTube is one of the main search engines in the world. We wanted folks to discover our unique brand of music and we knew that putting music videos out was one of the main ways to achieve that goal. So, we pushed through the fear and did it anyway.

Here's a recent video (created from free stock footage)

The only difference between us then and you now is that when we were researching how to actually create our first music video, many of the posts (and videos) were catered to folks who knew about creating videos already. They were too advanced or too elaborate (i.e., scouting a scene and asking permission, taking a variety of shoots and saving footage to multiple dedicated hard drives); all I had was a camera and wanted some basic ideas about shooting, lighting, and editing. We didn’t need to be shooting storylines and the like. We just weren’t there. If I had read about being able to put together free stock clips, I would jumped at the opportunity to do it. Because I shot all our footage and had to figure everything out on my own, I hated video editing (see how much I hate it) and didn’t make nearly as many videos as I should’ve, because it was such tedious work. I’m not saying that it’s NOT still tedious work; I am just saying that I have learned to work simpler and wiser, and now I use stock footage regularly, so that I can get videos completed quicker.

The result of shooting, editing, and publishing videos at least once a week is that our YouTube subscribers have grown from 300 to 1,126 in the past two years. We know it is because we keep a video circulating and though they are not all music videos—some are product unboxings, some are vlogs and some are our talk show—but we’re still songwriter/artists at heart, so that is a cornerstone of our channel. If I were you, I would have loved this advice when I was just starting out, which is why we are sharing it with you now.

References:

(1) https://www.mushroomnetworks.com/infographics/youtube---the-2nd-largest-search-engine-infographic/

(2) List found in article “10 Sites to Get Free Stock Video for Social Media” at https://blog.hootsuite.com/free-stock-videos-sites/

If you are contemplating making music videos, but haven’t already, we would encourage you to explore some of these websites’ free stock footage. Not only are you taking advantage of free resources, but you are likely to create more videos more often, which means spreading your music to folks all across the world. Isn’t that what you want? If no one in your band is a video editor, then this is a quick and easy way to make music videos. We don’t receive a kick-back from sharing these resources; we just want to help you jumpstart into video making sooner than later.

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Here is one of our recent Gab and Jam episodes for your viewing pleasure.

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