Need Advice Has anyone noticed any benefits in terms of traffic when adding background music?

[Randomlifestylevlog]

Has anyone noticed any benefits in terms of traffic when adding background music? Has it kept your subscribers/non subscribers watching etc? Is it worth it?

 

[Damon]

Well, I add music because it helps tell the story. I haven't noticed any increased traffic with or without music.

 

[Growing Up Walls]

Well, I add music because it helps tell the story. I haven't noticed any increased traffic with or without music.

That's a really good reason to add music. I notice a lot of people I watch do it, but I can't ever find the right music for my videos, so I figure I'm going to have to sort out how to make them work without it.

I look forward to other opinions on this!

 

[Travel Interesante]

We feel that music helps with audience retention more than pushing traffic, but it really will depend on what type of videos you are doing. You also need to choose the right music for the content you are doing. It obviously does not make sense to put a heavy metal track underneath a yoga training session for example.

There are two great websites which charge a monthly fee that many YouTubers (including us) use, but you can also try to find music on a website like soundcloud and contact the creator to see if you can get permission to use it in your video.

 

[Randomlifestylevlog]

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts! Much appreciated!

 

[Damon]

. . . but I can't ever find the right music for my videos . . .

Yeah, that's why I started writing my own music.

but you can also try to find music on a website like soundcloud and contact the creator to see if you can get permission to use it in your video.

Yup, that'a great approach especially if that composer has released their music under Creative Commons. Also check out Bandcamp for the same reasons.

 

[TyFromTN]

I recently started adding background music in some of my videos so I'll keep an eye on this post.

 

[Simple_Words_Sonal]

Yeah, that's why I started writing my own music.

You write your own music?? What you use? I mean the DAW? We could start another thread for this if you want to discuss more on it. Because I do it too, using FL Studio.

 

[Simple_Words_Sonal]

Has anyone noticed any benefits in terms of traffic when adding background music? Has it kept your subscribers/non subscribers watching etc? Is it worth it?

Yes, what I feel is, video is itself is a complete thing but having background music makes it more interesting for people to watch it, which indirectly or directly gives you good audience retention.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

It all depends. I add music to help emphasize the nature of the scene and music typically helps to push a viewer through a scene that may be lacking in that it isn't as interesting as I would have liked it to be. So it can help with retention. But honestly if you really want to nail it my opinion is that you focus music more on the scene, experiment and let your analytics tell you whether videos with music are performing better. Every audience is different.

 

[Randomlifestylevlog]

Thank you for your responses much appreciated!

 

[Randomlifestylevlog]

We are a cosmetics lifestyle and beauty channel so sometimes our videos are quite long! Unboxing subscription boxes can be quite long videos and may lose retention over a while. recently we did a video with some music and it had a good view count. I don't know if it was the contents of the video or the fact we added music,

 

[residentcasuals]

It depends on the narrative you are trying to tell. The cool thing about adding music is when you want to make a point you can make the background music stop, emphasizing that point. It might also reinforce the mood you are trying to make in that video.

The main thing is 'Will it improve the quality of the video' if it does that viewer retention will increase because the quality of your video is higher. There is some genres of music you should avoid maybe depending on the crowd you are looking to entice as the wrong genre may drive them away.

 

[TubeBuddy]

Has anyone noticed any benefits in terms of traffic when adding background music? Has it kept your subscribers/non subscribers watching etc? Is it worth it?

...... this isn't a thing that would drive traffic. It would help people STAY on your content, but trafffic is driven by outside factors like title, thumbnail, promotion on socials.... not necessarily having background music.

 

[Beanie Draws]

I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference overall, except for creatively. Music that is too loud and distracting is just as "bad" if not worse than having no music at all. Matter of fact, I've read lots of comments on other people's video of "The music is way too loud" but I've never read "This video needs music" I rarely ever read people complaining about lack of background music, but they definitely will complain AND LEAVE, if the music is too loud and distracting from the message of the video.

 

[Damo’s Paintings]

I use BG music to carry the viewers through the blank parts of my videos, like when I’m time lapsing certain parts.

So far I’ve only had one request to change it to something more calm and serene, I’m not changing it though as many others liked the funky upbeat of my choice in BG music.

 

[InspirationalbyMarie]

I hope this is not going slightly off-topic, I think music is a good way to emphasise / gain more audience retention?However, most people watch on their mobile so some might tend to switch off when they hear music although saying that earphones can be used and in this day and age of social distancing it might not be too much of an issue .I personally don't mind except some people don't get the volume right and its slightly too high.

 

[Jeffrey Powers]

Anything that gets people over the 90 second hump is a good thing. If they've watched that long, so they feel invested and will go through the majority of the video.

With that said, music is not a band-aid. Someone is not going to say "Oh, the content is horrible, the presenter doesn't inspire me, but the music is awesome!"

It's important to keep anything background simple. Stay away from lyricized music unless you want to feature the band. Changing it up to fit the mood is also important. It doesn't hurt to stop talking for a bit of music, bringing you into a new thought.

And doing it wrong - that hurts and helps. At least you get people commenting how out of place the music is...

Want to see how it's done right? Watch a WWE program. They have the magic sauce when it comes to making a "Shoot" video (where the wrestler comes out to talk about something). The wrestler's theme plays, they show up pumped up, they rile up the crowd, then talk with no background music until either the end (when their music plays them out), or another wrestler's music interrupts to have a confrontation.

 

[on a dark night]

I've added music to all my videos as I think they help to set the mood .
I've learnt along the way to adjust the volume for key moments .
I tell horror stories on my channel so I think they go hand in hand plus as one comment said it can help retain attention.
Theres a murder in one of my stories which with the music I thought worked incredibly well together than without.
Whether it helps retain people I couldn't say but I personally think it depends on your channel too .
If I were listening to film reviews by the likes of Jeremy jahns or chris stuckmann I'd be distracted if they add music blaring over it.

 

[Cubey]

Has anyone noticed any benefits in terms of traffic when adding background music? Has it kept your subscribers/non subscribers watching etc? Is it worth it?

I think people should as big youtubers add background music.