Jul 17, 2018
Real estate agents, we have some important news for you. The days when you could just snap a few pics of your latest property, throw them on your MLS listing, and call it a day are over! Today’s house hunters – especially the growing ranks of millennial power couples – want and expect video. It’s time to step up your game and get the camera production rolling. That includes finding good background music for your real estate videos that will create an emotional connection with your prospective buyers and turn interest into valuable inquiries.
Of course, identifying the right stock music can be tricky, and how do you find music that won’t get you in trouble with the copyright police? In this article, we’ll look at how real estate agents can take their videos to the next level with great, royalty free stock music. First though, just in case you need another reminder, let’s look at why video is such an excellent tool for real estate agents.
Don’t you hate those articles that blast you with tons of statistics right off the bat? Well, tough luck, cookie, because if you don’t think you need to change up your real estate game and incorporate video, the numbers from this source, this source, and this source, don’t back you up.
Beyond the numbers, video just makes sense for a lot of reasons. Video is a dynamic and stimulating medium that can convey significantly more information than a static picture. Video home tours showcase homes in a more accurate way than pictures and give viewers a much better idea of the house’s flow and overall character. Video also gives you a chance to introduce yourself, your community, and your agency in a fun and efficient way.
Have we convinced you that you need to start incorporating video into your real estate business? Good! Now you just need to figure out what types of videos to make and how to find the perfect music for those videos.
The video home tour is a mainstay on real estate websites, listings, and real estate YouTube channels. However, don’t overlook all the other ways that video can help you grab the attention of potential buyers and new clients. After all, you can’t make a video home tour if you don’t have any listings!
Here are the most popular type of real estate videos:
It’s clear that real estate agents need to introduce video into their marketing toolkit, but is it enough to just take out your phone, hit record, and then upload the results onto your new YouTube channel?
Not exactly. A savvy real estate agent knows that good presentation goes a long way toward closing the deal. That’s why it’s usually worth the extra effort to polish your video. You’ll notice that all the videos we’ve highlighted in this article contain unique background music.
Music has a powerful ability to create an emotional connection with your viewers. It sets the mood of your video and helps tell the story you want to present. Just listen to the music selection for a tour of this ultra luxury home in Toronto. This sophisticated and suave jazz melody perfectly aligns with the elegant character of the home.
But how are you, a real estate agent who is most definitely not a professional videographer or music specialist, supposed to pick the perfect stock music for your videos? Easy, just follow these five steps.
It may be tempting to find a single good tune and use it for all your videos, but that would be a mistake. After all, you don’t stage every listing with the same furniture, right? Instead, you pick pieces that accentuate the property’s strengths and downplay its weaknesses. You customize. Music for your videos is the same way. Pick music that matches the theme of your video and supports the emotions you want to resonate with your audience.
Creepy, chilling music is perfect for a scary movie. Rock ballads make excellent accompaniments for video sports montages. Neither of these music genres would be a good pick for most types of real estate videos. Instead, think about how you want your audience to feel and choose music that conveys that mood.
For example, introduction and testimony videos are generally warm, positive, and cheerful. A neighborhood video may include music that is happy, playful, and optimistic. Your video tours should include music that expresses the character of the house, anything from soulful to upbeat or even serene.
Find a happy medium between music that captures the attention of your viewers and music that takes center stage. After all, your video is about you, the neighborhood, your agency, or your luxury listing, not the music playing in the background. Music should always play a supportive role, enhancing the visuals on screen. Be careful about picking beats that are too big, too vibrant, or too distracting.
We told you not to use the same song for every video, but that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch with each new project. You may not stage each house the exact same way, but larger agencies tend to keep prime furniture pieces around that can work for a variety of homes. You can do the same things with your music selections. If you have a variety of great songs, hang onto them and use them when they fit a project. One great way to do this is to curate a playlist or multiple playlists filled with songs you like.
You can’t just pop Taylor Swift’s latest hit song into your next video without permission. That’s a classic example of copyright infringement. In a worst-case scenario, Taylor’s label could slap you with a budget-draining lawsuit. In a slightly less worse-case scenario, YouTube will pull down the video you spent hours making, and your clients will start wondering why you haven’t booked any showings of their home.
In short, you can’t use music without permission. Doing so means breaking the law and leaving yourself vulnerable to hefty fines and even being kicked off of YouTube! (Here’s a full and scary rundown of all the penalties for not using royalty free music.) One alternative option is to pay Taylor Swift’s record label a big royalty fee to license her music for your video. However, unless you’re selling million-dollar homes each week, this option probably won’t work for most agents.
Your best bet is to work with a company, like Soundstripe, that specializes in offering good background music for videos. At Soundstripe, we work directly with a wide range of artists to license their music. For one low monthly or yearly subscription, you can access our entire royalty free stock music library. Filter our songs by genre and/or mood. Create unique playlists and follow your favorite artists. Best of all, you can use as many of our songs as you want without worrying about royalty fees or licensing. We handle all of it for you.
As we’ve learned in this article, home sellers and buyers expect their real estate agent to be media savvy. They love to do research online and want to see cool videos that showcase properties, explore neighborhoods, and introduce agents. You can get ahead of the competition by investing some time and effort into learning how to create great videos. You’ll discover that it’s not as hard as you think, especially with companies like Soundstripe available to offer you excellent, royalty free music.
Check out our music library today and find the song that will have buyers fighting over your next big listing!
Interested in reading more top resources and getting our best filmmaking tips and tricks? Here are a couple of our most popular articles from across the Soundstripe blog:
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