Music is an Emotional Compass

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MrBeast has a three-step framework for successful videos:

1. Capture attention

2. Keep attention

3. Deliver absurd levels of entertainment to that attention

But you don't have millions of dollars to giveaway or your own candy factory. (Unless Willy Wonka finally accepted my 'follow' request.)

So how can you capture, keep, and deliver entertainment to your audiences' attention on a budget?

The most essential and slept-on aspect is music.

This isn't a new concept.

Movies have been musically-driven since organ players accompanied silent moving picture shows.

But in the digital content world, music is often an afterthought.

If I hear one more music bed from the YouTube sound library tacked on after the edit, I'm going to scream.

Or, even worse, a TikTok vlog with a trending audio score on the lowest volume level just for the clicks.

Music can be an emotional compass, keeping viewers from flipping to the next piece of content during silent moments.

Viewers stick with a piece of content when they believe it's building to something they need to see.

A swelling music score, a carefully chosen audio drop, or a hard record scratch can turn a slow moment into a moment of expectation.

So don't let music be an afterthought.

Make it an essential part of your editing process by matching and highlighting moments within your content.

My mission for you: jump back into the edit of your most recent video and try a few versions with different soundtracks.

Does it make the content more compelling? Amp up the drama? Create a funky and interesting juxtaposition?

If you found something that holds viewers a bit longer, congrats! You upleveled your content!

That took 2 minutes. You have 8 minutes left. Now put on some poppy ska music and grow 1% right now!

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About the Author

Phil Ranta, is the COO of Fixated, a content and gaming studio building IP around creators, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Innovation & Tech, and has been creating content for the internet and building internet businesses professionally for nearly 20 years, starting on MySpace and riding trends to the present. He was the Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook, the first network lead at Fullscreen, the COO at Studio71, and spent 10 years as a working comedian (including 2 years on cruise ships). He's a husband, a dad of two littles, and an insufferable digital media wonk.

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