Although lyric videos are something of the modern day digital era, there were a few music industry legends who were before their time for this trend. In 1965, Bob Dylan’s music video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was the first of its kind depicting a live action Bob using large cardstock to reveal key words and phrases through the song. Not only was this a new style of music video, it was the first to be used as promotional material for his upcoming documentary “Don’t Look Back”. In 1987, the official music video for Prince’s “Sign O’ The Times” was released, strictly showcasing colorful moving shapes and animated lyrics. This music video is considered one of the first lyric videos, quite fitting for its title. Decades later, in 2010, CeeLo Green released the video for “F*** YOU” featuring bright colors, overlays and dynamic kinetic typography which is now recognized as the first contemporary lyric video. Once uploaded to YouTube, it changed the music video industry forever.
Since YouTube’s mainstream release in 2005, people stopped watching music videos on television. Simultaneously, fans started uploading videos with their favorite songs, including homemade lyric videos showcasing still images and basic lyric input. Although grateful, artists and music labels realized that many of these videos were displaying inaccurate or misspelled lyrics and garnering millions of views which in turn meant they were losing song revenue. Once copyright infringement systems began cracking down on these videos, users found a way to bypass this by speeding up or distorting the audio file, which in itself is not how the artist intended their music be heard. To combat this, artists and major music labels began creating and releasing their own high quality official lyric videos, sometimes even in addition to official music videos, creating a new movement in the music industry.
Lyric videos are considerably cheaper than live action music videos. There’s no scheduling concerns, travel costs, production sets or design, backup dancers or video directors to pay. With LyricVids, artists and labels are able to be as involved with the creative process as much as they’d like, really allowing their ideas to come to life the way they envisioned them. Another huge bonus is that the turn-around time on lyric videos is fast! You can have a full professionally produced lyric video within 7 days of walking out of the studio with your new track! LyricVids is set up to create at the same pace you do when you’re recording new records. It’s fast and efficient for pre-release marketing as well! If you DO have a music video already scheduled for release, you can use a lyric video and make your song go viral before the official music video is even out! This helps pique fan’s interests and can build hype for the song and music video release. If you put out a lyric video before the official music video, your fans will likely listen to it more than once which increases your view rating which bumps you up on those charts!
Animated lyric videos are now surfacing and gaining popularity amongst artists and music labels. Fans are used to having a plethora of new content at their fingertips on a regular basis, and by releasing highly entertaining animated videos, fans will surely continue coming back for each update and release. If your songs revolve around themes that are larger than life and difficult to portray in a music video such as a bank robbery or even going to the moon, you can easily showcase these concepts through an animated music or lyric video. Custom illustrations catered to your song will breathe life into your single and your music video. These images will be specific to you as an artist, your lyric video and are not available to be used by others in the future.
Lyric videos are no joke for fans. They LOVE them and will often watch them on repeat nonstop for their new and old favorite songs. Proximity’s official lyric video for DJ Snake feat Justin Bieber’s “Let Me Love You” has over a BILLION views on YouTube and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” official lyric video has over 903 million views. Promoting your brand as an artist is crucial for engagement and will in turn result in more streams and downloads resulting in more revenue and concert ticket sales. Professional lyric videos are not just a trend, they are now a staple in the digital-centric industry and we are only seeing the start of their revolutionary impact.
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