Transcript
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The speaker introduces the ranking system for music content formats and explains the Snapchat method. He breaks down why it works, its downsides, and why it ranks highly for brand awareness.
I'm going to rank the music content formats that serious artists are using to get more views, more streams, and build a bigger fan base.My team's use these formats to generate millions of views.Not only to go viral, but to build a world around the music so it becomes memorable and people actually stream it.I'll score every format on three things: views and brand awareness, conversions, does it make people actually stream, and three, simplicity.How easy is it for you to copy this format?Quick heads up, we tested these formats across hundreds of projects.That's different music, different styles, different brands.So, this isn't theory.They actually work for any genre around the world.There's going to be a lot to go through, so let's start with the first one, the Snapchat method.Okay, so let's start with the Snapchat method.It's an engineered scenario which looks like a real-life moment because of the Snapchat caption.
And then just when you least expect it, it transitions seamlessly to the music video, the high-quality performance.Now, why this works?Cuz it looks like a real-life scenario, it lowers the viewer's guard cuz it looks like a real viral moment they would see on their feed.Not another upcoming artist saying song out now, music video snippet, or a boring performance reel.You're not just selling the music.Now, the intention is high reach, essentially a clickbait strategy, so it works even if you have zero followers.Now, the downside, I don't necessarily think these things, but I've heard these so many times online.Some people think it's a washed strategy, I've seen this so many times, you're copycat, whatever it is.Others think it's a cringe factor, obviously have to go out in public and go and do this.Some people think it's dumbed down, it's hacking attention, fueling the end of the world, like the dopamine mind.
However, let's watch.
When you watch this, it's really entertaining for one.The next thing is that the message of Laura's song there, we created this video with her, is exactly the message of the video as well.It's confronting an abusive ex-boyfriend.So, what she's doing in there?She's confronting the abusive ex-boyfriend, hence why she gets pushed out.So, yes, it can go viral.Now, the conversion on the other hand, you're not always high-quality eyeballs because you are clickbaiting the viewer.However, you are clickbaiting the viewer to listen to your song, so it's still not bad, but it's not the best.Next is ease of producing.The reason it's a two out of five cuz I know it just looks like they're in the street and they're in the park.However, it's the little things that matter.The transition timing, it's the quality of the camera that you're using in that transition, and also the idea itself, how well does it match the song?
Yes, you can do it anywhere, but it's still hard to produce because of the little things that actually make it work.The Snapchat method has to go in the A tier for me.If you haven't built up your brand yet, you have to rip this strategy because this is a brand awareness zero follower strategy in my opinion, but it's still in the A tier.
This section covers behind-the-scenes reveals, reaction videos, behind-the-scenes tease posts, and the bandwagon effect. Each format is evaluated for virality, conversion, and ease of production.
Next is the behind-the-scenes versus the shot.So, what this is, first you show the setup, then you reveal the finished high-quality shot that came from that setup.Now, why it works is the classic curiosity payoff, open loop, close loop, question, answer.It's that kind of psychology.Now, the intention is 100% plus watch time.It's shares and it's how did you do that comments.Now, the downside is that if the final shot isn't way better than the behind the scenes, it completely flops because there's no contrast, people aren't impressed.They just scroll away without commenting, saving, or liking the video.Let's have a look at it.
So, that's the video we shot with the Carlo.Now, you can see that it's the the TV setup, then it switches to the shot.Look how clean that is.It's unbelievable.This video we did with the Carlo's got I think got 2 million views.We did it with Eric Bellinger, that one got 30 million views.Citizen the artist who pioneered the strategy gets 100 million views with this strategy, so the virality is five out of five.The conversion, because it's so entertainment-driven, because it's so process-driven, it's only a two out of five.You are still getting your song in front of millions and millions of people.So, take that as you will.And then the ease of producing is a one out of five because that shot needs to look so good.And so many people have tried the TV transition, so many people have tried this concept, and it's not working.
So, that just proves that you need the best videographer in the world, you need the best strategist in the world to make this strategy actually work.Behind the scenes versus the shot has to be in the S tier.It's so unbelievably viral.If you don't have If you don't have followers, this is the format to rip.If you have followers, this is format to rip.It's not cringe, it goes viral.The streams aren't that great, but it's just a top of funnel brand awareness.And number three is reaction videos.This is one of my personal favorites.What it is is you film someone or a group of people or someone in public's real-time reaction to your song.Why it works is social proof and their emotions.So, if you see other people loving a song, you're more likely to love it as well.Now, the intention is you want the reaction of your person next to you, your mom, your girlfriend, your crush, the person in public, you want their reaction to mirror the viewers.
So, if they're shocked, you want the viewer to be shocked.Now, the downside is if you're bad at acting, it will feel staged or it's just boring.That kills trust, people won't believe this, and they won't watch the whole video.Okay, what are you expecting from this?See?How do I get the CD sound?Yeah.So, you can see that at the start there, she's like shocked, she's going like that, and that's what you want the viewer to feel.Now, the virality on this is a three out of five.The conversion though is a five out of five because of that social proof, because of their emotions.Emotion-driven content always gets more streams.And then the ease of producing, because they're just in their car, you can get your mom, your dad, your sister, your crush to do this with you.It's a four out of five for ease of producing.
The reason it's not five out of five cuz you need to be good at acting, so just rehearse this a few times, script the whole thing, and you'll be able to do this rather easily.Reaction videos, again, they're going in S tier.It's so easy to create, it's pretty damn viral, and the streaming conversion because of those emotions, you don't find that anywhere else.Next one is the behind-the-scenes tease.Now, what this is is the post one shows the full finished shot, then post two it just shows the behind the scenes and never actually shows the finished shot in post two.When people see post two, they flood to your page to try and find post one.The intention is leveraged virality.These two posts fuel each other, and it's also profile visits and follows as well.You have people on your profile, they're more likely to click the follow button.
So, this is the first one.The transition straight away.It's the second one.
Video ends, it never transitions.So, but the downside, as you can see there, he's got a green screen man, and the concept is unbelievably creative.He's falling in slow motion onto a bear trap of some description.So, the downside is that your strategy, your mind, needs to be as creative as possible, or else you don't create the desire in the viewer to go through the inconvenience of clicking on your page, scrolling down to findit.You need to create that desire, okay?So, the virality here is a five out of five.I've literally seen artists launch careers off the ground with this strategy.The conversion here is only a one out of five.This is a purely brand awareness post.You'll need other types of content to funnel that attention into streams.Or, like J O did, he uses ManyChat to increase the conversion a lot, but the format by itself doesn't get streams.
The ease of producing, again, is a one out of five because of the creativity and because of the resources that you need.The BTST is a B tier because of the lack of conversion and because of the ease of producing, you're just not going to rip this format unless you've got a really good production team, so therefore that reason it'sonly in the B.Next format is the bandwagon effect.What this is, it's kind of like a reaction video, so it draws some parallels to the last format there, but it's in a house party setting with a ton of people.Why it works is FOMO and social proof.Social proof because of the reactions, fear of missing out because there's so many people there.You see all of these people loving it, you're like, why why don't I love this?Where where's my invite?You're the center of attention here, you look more famous.
Now, the intention is that people are sheep.When they see that guy loving the music, that girl loving the music, whoever they are, they're going to love the music as well.Downside, it's less wholesome, it's less personality, it's more music-driven, so it's more just about the music rather than you as an artist.The virality here is only a three out of five, I know you weren't expecting that.However, I've tested this across a lot of projects.Whenever I've tested this, it hasn't gone that viral.However, the conversion because of these two things working in conjunction, it's a five out of five conversion, but the ease of producing is a one out of five because you need so many friends.Look at this.
So, just the ease of production on this one is is even lower than a one out of five.You need the best editor in the world, you need a studio, you need 100 friends, and you need and you need the music to match.The bandwagon effect is going to go in the C tier because of the way I've tested it in campaigns and the performance and the response I've got to it.
The speaker reviews visual hooks, text hooks, slide posts, and performance grids. He explains how these formats work, where they fail, and how they rank for artists trying to grow.
Next one is visual hooks.So, what this is is a scroll-stopping visual in the first one to two seconds, a movement, a prop, and then the song just carries on as that happens.Why this works?It pulls the viewer out of scrolling into your video, into your song.The intention is to win the first two seconds and then keep hooking until the video ends.Basically, distracting the viewer's eyes so they is listen to the song.So, you can see that's the first hook, the first two seconds.
Another one, second hook.Third hook.So, you can see there's three hooks in a 30-second video, so every 10 seconds you're resetting their attention.Downside is the lack of emotions with this strategy.As I said before, emotions are really driving streams now.This one doesn't inspire that many emotions.It just gets the viewer to listen.So, the virality on this is three out of five because it's so easy to do.It's a saturated strategy.Conversion, three out of five again.As I said, the emotion, the lack of emotion.The ease of producing is a five out of five.You can anyone can do this anywhere, anytime, anyhow.And so, for that reason, visual hooks is going in the C tier.Number seven is text hooks.So, what it is, it's an iPhone shot of the artist lip-syncing or standing on the road or just looking at the camera and then it has text on screen.
Why this works is because while they read the text, they're watching your video for longer.The intention is they read the hook and they feel the emotion of the song because of it.The downside is you look like every other artist on the platform begging for attention instead of actually earning it.And if you go viral with this format, you're in a box and it's very unlikely that it goes viral again.So, let's have a look.
Honestly, this is the stupidest format you can rip.
Obviously, you can have good text hooks, but these are examples of one that everybody is ripping.Fan base so small it could fit on a bus.Get out of here with that.That's why the virality is a one out of five.Nobody watches these things anymore.Conversion is a one out of five.They may feel sorry for you and stream the song because you have no fans or whatever you're trying to do here.Realistically, long term, you look like a SoundCloud rapper.Nobody listens to SoundCloud rappers.The ease of producing is a five out of five.Text hooks are going in D tier.Now, if you want a lazy strategy that you can do in your bedroom at home and just put text on screen, then slide post is where it's at.This what it is, it's pictures that come together to tell a story.
Why it works, it's like the Snapchat method.Picture one is the hook, picture two is the curiosity detention and picture three is the song.It's the transition moment.And the intention is storytelling match in the emotion of the song with pictures, with the vibes and it's like the emotions that you can create with characters in pictures and text on screen.The downside is it doesn't build a brand.The artist is rarely shown in the pictures.These are from Pinterest most likely.Therefore, it's song driven, not artist, not brand driven.Virality on these is a three out of five.It's a volumes game.So, if you do 50, likelihood is one's going to go viral.Conversion is a five out of five.This is the format we did with Adry, his EP that we were promoting's now on a million streams.And the ease of producing is a five out of five.
30 slide posts for 30 days, you can probably create them all in two or three hours.Slide posts are going in A tier.Reason it's not S tier is because Adry had very good, very unique music.I know you probably have good music as well, but Adry is just different.That's all I That's all I can say about it.Okay, next one is performance grids.So, what this is is multiple angles of the performance on screen at the same time.Why it works is because while the viewer is scanning all of the angles, they have more to look at, more engaged.
Intention is world building.Artist looks super polished, famous, cool.But the downside is that looking cool doesn't always equal virality.I have seen this when testing in my campaigns.Only works for artists with semi-decent following.If you have zero followers, this strategy doesn't work.So, that's why virality is only a two out of five.Version is a two out of five because of the lack of emotion.And the ease of producing is a three out of five.A lot goes into this.Quality of the camera, the location choice, the visual identity.For that reason, performance grids are going to go in C tier.
This chapter focuses on movie scene formats, mini music videos, and seasonal adaptation. The speaker shows how storytelling and timely trends can drive attention, while also limiting long-term consistency.
And along with performance grids, it's all other performance driven formats.This one we did with DeCarlo, it got over a million views.Just look at the quality on this.And look at the location choice.Look at the depth.Look at the visual identity.Next one is the movie scene format, one of my personal favorites.So, what it is, it's a cinematic video.It's crafted with characters and extreme emotions like a scene out of a movie.Why it works, the viewer literally wants to see how the story unfolds.It's like a Netflix show.The intention is literal universe building.You make your song a soundtrack to a certain storyline, a certain emotion that's relatable.Downside is movies don't go viral on social media.So, it still needs to be engineered with hooks, shocking moments like the Snapchat method, for example.So, let me show you an example.
This is Zaina.Hook.The reason why it's a movie scene format is because it has that storyline of girl entering new big city for the first time.And then her song if becomes a soundtrack to all girls entering new big city for the first time.Pretty much needs to be like Steven Spielberg or something to make this work.The movie scene format is an A tier format.Rip that ASAP if you can come up with the storyline, come up with your characters that match the song, you've got a banger.Mini music video.We've all seen this strategy.It's a video switches between clips filmed from the same angle.Why it works, those switches keep the video dynamic.The intention is literally selling music.Look at this.
The downside is for that reason it only works if you have a following.So, the virality is a one out of five.Conversion is decent, it's a three out of five.And the ease of producing is a four out of five.You just need a good camera, put it in one position, cool location, you're sorted.Mini music video format has to go in D tier.If you're still ripping this format in 2026, you're living in 2019.Unless you're Cairo Keys, don't rip this format.The next format is seasonal adaptation.You might be like, "What the hell are you on about now?"So, what this is, it's any format that you can think of, but it's tailored to a specific season / seasonal event.And why does it work?Because the world goes through all of these events together.So, it's pretty much like hopping on a massive trend.
The intention is to make the content relevant to people during a certain period of time.But the downside is if you go viral with that song and it's too tied to a specific season, it's frustrating and demotivating if your next song doesn't perform as well.I'll show you an example of that in a second, but let's watch Citizens' video here if it plays.
So, that one's playing on the New Year's countdown.Next one is from MRG.
It's all about Capricorn season.So, this is like I think it's December 14th to Jan 14th.If I'm wrong about that, I don't even care.It's very specific to a certain season event as in Capricorn.However, we worked with MRG and his problem was that this song went crazy viral, but then as soon as January 14th ended or whatever it is, the engagement dropped off a cliff essentially.With that said, the virality is a four out of five.It's super viral.The conversion is a three out of five unless it's like Capricorn season where it's literally the song is the seasonal event.Whereas Rest in Peace to My Ego isn't quite related to New Year's Eve.But and the ease of producing is a four out of five because MRG is literally in a petrol station with some text on screen.Seasonal adaptation, seasonal adaptation takes tier C.
The final section explains geo-targeting and how artists can tailor content to specific countries or cultures. The speaker closes by diagnosing common artist problems and pitching his team’s strategy, filming, and editing services.
You can only rip it when it's Christmas or New Year's or whatever.Geo-targeting.That's one of my favorite formats, but this is essentially any format again, but it's tailored to specific people from a specific nation.So, you literally target one person from a specific nation and the intention is to make them feel like it's just for them.It's specifically for that.The downside is this mainly works for smaller countries / countries with a language barrier.So, UK English-speaking countries, it's harder.Let me show you an example of this.So, Caldo was an artist who used this.You can see they have the Italian flag and the English flag because they switch from Italian to English in the song.But Italian is is a language barrier.Only Italy speaks Italian.Very easily target that nation.Next one was Laura's video.If we go back to the hook, you can see it says, "This is why you don't piss off a Hungarian."
And therefore, you're getting to that Hungarian audience.They're like, "Oh, this this must be for me."So, for that reason, the virality is a four out of five.Completely depends on the format you're using though.But as a concept, it's a four out of five virality.The conversion is a three out of five.You are getting to the people who can speak the language, have found an artist that feels like it's for them, from their nation.And the ease of producing is a four out of five because Caldo literally just slapped those flags on each video and had really viral moment with that song.Geo-targeting is a B tier format because you can only rip it if you're to make a certain type of music or you're a certain nationality.However, with geo-targeting, quick side note, you can still do it, but more in a subtle way.
For example, if you're from the UK, you do UK rap, rapping in front of a red bus or phone box.This is things that British people identify with.Therefore, when they see it, they're like, "Ah, this is for me.I'm interested in this."So, these are the ranked formats that artists are going viral right now are using.If you've watched this video and the formats you had no idea they even existed, that right there is an expertise problem.It means you don't have the strategy to be able to make great content.Another problem you might have is that you've seen the quality and the volume that these artists are posting out.You simply can't reach that level of output or that level of quality.That means you have a team problem.All of these artists have production teams, have strategy teams, and production teams working behind the scenes to make their videos stand out from the crowd.
As I said, a lot of these formats, they bank on your execution being T.The last problem you might have is you can do all these formats.You might have even done them already, but it's just too time-consuming and you want to focus on the music.If any of those three problems apply to you, then this This what we do.We strategy, we film, and we edit for artists.And we have a really good track record.Obviously, some of these artists we've worked with, and also our creative director, Scotty, is the man behind Citizen the Artist, and he helped him grow a million followers in the last 365 days, in the last year.So, at this point, the result of that is just whether your music is good, and you're committed enough to the game to give this a real run.So, we can go viral, and we can get that music marketed.
Now, if you do want those problems to be solved, I'll leave a link in the description below where you can book a call with one of my senior growth consultants.And they'll just pretty much have a look at where you are in your career right now.They'll find everything they need to about you, and also answer anything you need to find out about us.And hope to see you on the inside.Peace out.