Music video marketing is one of the most powerful tools for artists — but without a strategy, even the best songs can go unheard. In this episode, Bree Noble sits down with Andy Gesner, founder of Hip Video Promo, to break down what it really takes to get your music videos in front of the right audience. Andy shares his journey from musician to music video marketing expert, how he helped promote iconic artists like Johnny Cash and Paramore, and why consistency and storytelling are key to building a lasting music career. From online PR to social media strategies, he reveals the tactics that help artists cut through the noise, build real fan connections, and turn music videos into powerful marketing assets.

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Get Your Music Noticed: Proven Music Video Marketing Strategies With Andy Gesner

I’m here with Andy Gesner from HIP Video Promo, and we are going to talk about marketing. As we started this conversation, Andy said to me that, and we wish this wasn’t true, but it is that 20% of what makes musicians successful is their talent and their music, and 80% is the marketing, and I know some of you might not want to hear that.

If you make wonderful music, but nobody knows about it, you are going to be able to succeed. We do need to understand marketing. We need to understand how we can get our message out there through our music and gather people around us. That’s what we are going to talk about. Before we jump into that, I would love to know, Andy, your background, like how did you get involved in music? How did you get involved in promoting music videos and then expanding into all this other marketing? You’ve been doing it a long time with a lot of artists that I recognize in all different genres. I’d love for you to cover that before we get into the nuts and bolts of the tactical stuff.

The Harsh Reality Of Music Success

Thank you for having me on your program. It’s very much appreciated. I was a 3-year-old kid in 1964. My twelve-year-old sister comes running into my bedroom on a Sunday night. She grabs me by the arm. She says, “Come on. We are going to watch The Beatles on TV.” I figured it was some insect show. I didn’t know what the heck she was talking about, but it was my first coherent memory. I spun around and my sister was like a whirling dervish, screaming like all those young women at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

My brother was on the other side, and his jaw hit the floor. I remember turning around, and my parents were aghast. How could they be allowing their children to see such rubbish? Look at those longhaired crazy people with their cars and stuff, but I felt that palpable energy. I felt the vibration all throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, I was the music guy first buying the 45 singles, and then, of course, you made your way into the 8-track tapes. I’m dating myself.

The albums, you’d go to the store and they were $4.99 or $5.99, or if it was Frampton Comes Alive! or Lynyrd Skynyrd’s One More from the Road, it was a double record. It might be $6.99. If you went to see Queen at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, the ticket price was $8.50 and I was all about it. In order to become part of my peer group, they were all playing guitars and making all kinds of rackets. I figured the best way to fit in would be for every rock band to need a bass guitar. I went to the store. I said, “Can I buy a left-handed bass?” The guy behind the counter laughed at me because I’m left-handed. I write left. I bat left. He’s like, “Who do you think you are, Paul McCartney or something?”

I didn’t understand what he was talking about, but then he played like, “No left-handed bases.” I said, “Give me a right-handed bass,” so I learned how to play bass right-handed. For twenty years, I did exactly what your fans and your readers did. I fought the good fight. We did everything we possibly could. Back in the day, the schematic was the same for twenty years.

Get together with talented people. You write some songs, you go into the recording studio, you pick a market to get going in, you make friends with the other bands, you go check them out. You find out who the local newspaper people are. Thankfully, it was Central New Jersey, so I was enrolled at Rutgers. I joined the college radio station.

I think so much of those important experiences of making human connections with people were beneficial because, as someone who makes music and creates art, you want to pay attention to the people who are showing appreciation to you. In the year 2000, at the age of 39, it’s so hard for you to get past the pain point. I’m like, “If I can’t do it, I will teach.” I had a dear friend who said, “Andy, not for nothing.” It’s only going to be a matter of time before the entire human family will be able to watch music videos on their computer.

I’m like, “Watching music videos on their computer?” He’s like, “This new worldwide webby web thing, it’s not going anywhere. It’s going to be here for a while.” I said, “Okay.” It’s the old Catch-22. You can’t get anyone to hire you if you haven’t worked with great people, but how do you work with great people if no one’s going to hire you?

It was 2003. I’m pleasantly persistent. I’m not all arm-twisty. Lost Highway has always been one of my top tier favorite labels of all time. You get the polite, “Thanks, but no thanks.” “I don’t know.” They called. It was early 2003 and said they had a new video, and I was curious who it was. When they told me it was Johnny Cash, my jaw hit the floor, but they were concerned because, in the video, Johnny didn’t look well. The woman at Lost Highway said, “You were not sure what to do with this because it does look like he’s ready to shift off this Mortal Coil.” Then they said, “What’s more?” It’s a Nine Inch Nails song. It’s not the normal Johnny Cash repertoire.

This was way back before you could send the link via email or WeTransfer. They sent a VHS tape overnight. We watched the video. Once we had wiped the tears from our eyes, I reached out, I said, “Please put us in coach. We want to play.” The rest is history. From that point, I could go back to Sub Pop and Polyvinyl, Drive Thru-Records, and Touch and Go, Drag City, Fearless, and Fueled by Ramen, all those great indie rock bands from the Double Zeros.

 

All of a sudden, we are working with Akton and they are bringing us Maroon 5 and Fueled By Ramen says, “We got this new band called Paramore.” I remember going to interview them in Baltimore, and the bass player came out right before the interview and he looked like, “This might not happen.” He comes up and says, “Not for nothing. Our lead singer or voice is shot.” It was their first tour, and I was thinking, “This isn’t going to happen.”

He looks at me, he says, “If you are okay with Hailey speaking softly, she’ll be out in five minutes.” It was right then and there. I knew they were going to break through. They were going to get past that pain point because they were out there to make a statement. It’s been the most incredible journey, and it’s true. If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life. Here I am sitting on my couch and with my championship team and we help people with the heavy lifting.

We all know that if it’s dressed in overalls and it looks like work and you know the fans of your transmission, they don’t like the marketing. As you’ve pointed out, one of the best things you can do is find trusted partners with great reviews online and a great client list to help you, and that can make all the difference in becoming a profitable musician.

It sure can. Especially people who have done it multiple times for other people and know the lay of the land because that’s where artists get stuck because they don’t know the lay of the land or they have heard this or they have seen somebody else do this and they think they need to copy that, but maybe it’s not a good fit for them. Having someone help them with a personalized strategy is important. I want to go back to the Johnny Cash thing because I want to know what you did to promote this video in 2003 when we didn’t even have YouTube yet.

How Music Videos Were Promoted Before YouTube

We did not have YouTube yet. The music video programming landscape was vastly different. You would have to dub all the videos. They send you a Master 1-inch tape and you have to go and you have to put it on 3-quarter-inch tapes. That’s what television used back in the day. That morphed into Beta SP, and there were television channels all over. You had your MTV, CMT, and BET, and you had your Much Music in Canada, which has now morphed into Stingray. You had your music choice, then you have your music choice now. Content providers, even several years ago, whether you went into a Foot Locker or the department store or you were on a cruise ship or Friday night bowling, the fitness centers, they all had the music videos playing.

I’d look like Santa Claus going to the post office with the big bags of tapes and we’d send them out to all the people, and I’d get on the phone. This is back when you still spoke to people on the phone, and I’d say, I had this new video from Death Cab for Cutie, or I had this new video from the Shins or any of the great bands we were working with at the time.

The whole idea was don’t be a jerk. Just make friends with them. At the time, I used to go on a tour of the country visiting the programmers. I would time it so that I’d be leaving about the end of February, head down to Florida, then into Texas for the South by Southwest, then to the West Coast, then up the West Coast, back through the middle of America, stop at JBTV in Chicago which has always been a great outlet for music video exposure. I made friends with these people. Remember, people will gravitate towards your music because they like your music, but sometimes they gravitate towards you because they like you.

I agree with that. That’s a lot of what I work with my artists on, which is that sometimes the music can be the doorway, but sometimes you are the doorway to the music. How has this changed? How has it changed that you interface with other people over these years? You don’t have to drive all over the country anymore. You can meet with people on Zoom. You can do so many things. You can send things over the internet, but do you still do that? Do you still go on your little tour every year?

I do and sometimes it’s down through Florida or other times it’s through Tennessee to see our friends at those outlets. There, it’s more of the country music-based outlets, but what has changed, and it happened quickly, is once you could watch videos on your computer, music websites and blogs started popping up everywhere.

You had Rolling Stone and the SPIN, but all of a sudden, you had Fadr and you had Stereogum or Pitchfork and it became clear if we could get these well-respected, highly curated websites and blogs to either feature the music video or do an interview that’s online exposure that is extremely valuable. Online real estate for any of your people who you work with and or who view this broadcast, you got to know. Not only is it helping you build your community because new people are hearing you and learning of you, finding out what your story is, search engine optimization. It’s so important.

The only way you are going to be a top dog is if you populate the World Wide Web with lots of great online real estate. We started combining television and content providers with online exposure. In a lot of ways, we became an online PR company while continuing to promote the videos. All of a sudden, it’s the early tens and we are helping our clients with social media marketing as the one-man sales crew. If you listen to your clients, and I know you know this, Bree. They will tell you exactly what they need, and then as a business person entrepreneur, you have to figure out how you can offer that to your clients and make a difference.

Why Video Content Is Essential For Musicians

It’s been since 2012 that we have been helping our clients with the social media marketing end of things, but if you consider your music video to be your most potent and powerful piece of marketing currency, you are going to want to use that to build your Instagram, YouTube channel, Facebook, X, and TikTok. Let’s face it. People listen now. More, never, they listen with their eyes and people want to hear it, but they also want to see it. If you are planning a marketing strategy to a shoe video completely, all I can tell you is if you try to eshoo the video completely, it’s going to suck to be you.

Sometimes people don’t connect with your music first. They connect with YOU. Your personality, your story, your journey—that’s the doorway to your music. Share on X

When I first started this show, it was audio-only, and I love audio-only and consume a lot of audio-only, but it’s also like, “Why would I not create a video here while we are doing it?” Especially because sometimes people are used to consuming video on that platform and they may not even be watching us. They may be like, “There’s nothing super exciting going on the screen, but I’m used to consuming things on YouTube, so I’m going to watch this show on YouTube.”

People could see that you are enjoying the conversation and they can see that my passion for what I do. They might hear it in the podcast, but with the visual, they can see, “This guy is loud. He’s bombastic. He’s over the top,” but I would like to think, as a marketing professional, the last thing you want is a dud of a negative Norman all sour and grumpy. It doesn’t work in this world.

You were talking about online real estate and I know in the 2000s and early 2010s it was SEO was super big and blogs and all of that stuff. How does that morph into what we have now, where we have all these social media platforms, we are putting out videos on all of those? Did those even count as real estate anymore because they might go away and then like, what about AI?

I have got so many great stories of search engine optimization success and pretty much every single success story it boils down to one simple word. Consistency. That’s all it is. Just remain consistent. Another issue, and I’m sure you found this because you tell the people who lean on you for your sage wisdom, you tell them you got to be present, you are going to have to level up. You are going to have to put your inhibitions on the back burner because, for every three or four posts about your music, you have to sprinkle in at least one personality post. Do you agree with that, Bree?

I do. I saw an article about this, about people who were in the music industry were frustrated with the fact that now you have to be a character or a personality as well as being a great musician, and they are like, “Why can’t we be musicians?” I’d be curious to hear your thoughts around that because I do believe that it’s much harder. There are people out there that are amazing musicians that will become famous no matter what because they are so incredible, but most of the time, you need both.

You snooze, you lose and if you approach it as I do, I ain’t precious about any of it. Do I take people’s doubting of me into consideration? I do. People will say, “Andy, you got to dial it back. Too crazy. No one’s going to take you seriously. You are always so upbeat, enthusiastic, and ever-excitable. Don’t you get concerned that people are all going to think it’s an act? Maybe you should consider toning it back a little. Do you smell when I’m cooking? You got to tone it back a little.” I do take into consideration their doubting of how I roll. The best thing you can ever be in life is yourself and this is the way I am.

If I were to try to change the way I am, everyone would know something was off. If I had a quarter, I remember back in the day when we used to say if I had a nickel. If I had a quarter for every time people asked me what chemical extractions I’m on, I could have wrapped this up years ago, but I’m not going to temper my passion. I love what I do. This is fun. When we turned 25 years old, I get it. It’s not that huge of a milestone, but as you well know, any business. If you can hang in there for 5, 8, or 12 years, you are doing great. If you can do it for 25, that’s pretty remarkable, especially in the entertainment industry.

That’s always been my mantra. It’s like I hit ten years in business and even doing this show and it’s like, “I will outlast everybody else because I am pretty good at being consistent and I believe in it.” Like you said, “If you are consistent, you will succeed.” Now, you probably have to do some pivoting along the way, and you can’t keep grinding the same thing and not be looking up and seeing if it’s working. Part of it is doing it.

Let me ask you about the opposite end where you are like, “I’m not going to dial myself back,” but what if you are naturally an introvert, you feel super uncomfortable about talking about yourself online and getting out there and doing whatever you need to do on a music video to have a video that’s going to attract people, but yet it’s so important to you to get your music out there because it’s your art. It’s a piece of you. How do you overcome that?

Overcoming The Fear Of Self-Promotion

I’m sure you’ve come across this countless times. People will hear what you have to say and they end up being all talk, no walk. It’s like, “I will do it,” and then they never do it. When you call them out on it, they start saying things like, “People don’t care what I do other than my music.” I’m like, “Sport, that’s the wrong attitude. Come on. You can do something.”

Here are some tips. Number one, you don’t want to get camera-ready and you are an introvert. Lean on a personality post that’s easy. Remember, you can post a personality post-off-camera and point the camera. People love to find out what the world looks like around where their favorite artist lives. If someone who lives in Wisconsin wants to see how beautiful the scenery is, or if they live in Austin, Texas, they might want to go to 6th Street and see the sites there, but you can always be off-camera and be the narrator. Personality post. We do Turntable Tuesdays. I get it. Some of you reading not only do not have a turntable, you don’t have any record albums.

Every Tuesday, you could because you are a personality, you are a public figure and I have seen some of your cool records. You could do a 35-second post and just be like, “It’s Bree here. It’s turntable Tuesday.” We are going back to 1972 for this one. No one expected David Bowie to be anything more than a one-hit wonder when we all heard Space Oddity, but I bought this record and I tell stories around your music and don’t be too precious about any of it. You have to put your inhibitions on the back burner.

 

It’s funny how if you get over your initial anxiety and dip your toe in the water, you are going to find out it’s not that difficult. When you start to get appreciation from friends, fans, and family, it’s like, “I enjoyed that post about your cat buster.” He’s a real character. It gives you a little bit more confidence to keep doing it.

You have to start in order to get it. It’s like the snowball effect, but you can’t start making a snowball if you don’t start with any snow. You have to start with something that’s true and then you build and build, but sometimes we build it up to be like, “What if this and what if I said this wrong?” Another thing that I’m pretty good at is not being precious. As you said, I do these live sometimes. I’m in the middle of a conversation and I forget the question I was going to ask or whatever. I know that if I’m going to be perfectionist about it and I need to do massive editing, I won’t do it.

I have learned not to be precious about it, and maybe I said a few things that I didn’t like or I said too many ums and you know, because those are the things that I say when I’m thinking. I hear it all the time, but I’m like, I’m going to do it anyway because otherwise, I won’t do it if I make it such a big production.

That’s one thing that is having to get real with yourself. “Is the world going to end if I said every um every other word?” No. “Will I get better the next time I do it?” Yes, because I will be more aware of it. Those are the tips that I give people, but some people aren’t as good at getting past that stress, like, “What if I say the wrong thing? What if someone thinks this about me?” There’s going to be people who think whatever about you, good or bad. You have to be like, I have to be good with what I’m going to do. Would I rather know that there are a few people thinking weirdly about me and doing the thing or sit here and be afraid of that, but never do the thing?

Eighty percent of any challenging task is getting started.

With music videos that you help and I know you help people on all sides of marketing. Are you mostly promoting those on YouTube? Are you trying to get them on blogs? Spotify, I know they have videos now. Is that a big place for video? Are you putting clips out on social media to drive people to these places?

If you visit HIP Video Promo or perhaps Google Video Promo, put it in a search bar. We approach it all like we are musicians, artists trying to catch people’s attention because we are musicians and artists. One of our staffers released a music video that is like the back of a shampoo bottle. Consistent, sustained promotion. She has begun the shampoo. Now, this campaign is going to go for a month and a half, and as we start to wrap up, she’s going to rinse and then guess what? Months from now, brand new video, brand new song. Repeat the process.

We have clients who do the 60-day grind. I know you are reading. You are like, “I can’t release a song.” 6 releases in 1 year, I can’t do that. I’m like, “All good. Go to the 75-day grind.” They are like, “What’s that?” They said, “Do you have five tracks lined up?”  They are like, “Come on. Failure to plan is like planning to fail. You have to have a marketing strategy. You have to have a release strategy. If you don’t have all this stuff, go sell appliances at Best Buy. You are not in the right vocation. People hate hearing that.

I bet they do. You are crushing their dreams.

God forbid they might have to do something. It’s like so many of these great, talented people, they think that they can make the music and it sounds great. Well-crafted songs and because the songs are so great, the human family’s going to find them.

I could say the same thing about this show. I’m going to make it and put it out there because it’s good. People are going to find it. No, same thing about my newsletter. Same thing about my courses. Whatever it is you are doing, you have to get the word out. It’s not always fun. I wish I didn’t.

It is the worst. That is why we have had such a great run of it here, is that we are like our clients Scrubbing Bubbles. We do the work so they don’t have to.

Great music will always find an audience—but only if people know it exists. Share on X

Artists generally do need that, especially if they don’t have the time to do it. Maybe they are working a full-time job and then doing this music on the side and they don’t have time to figure out the marketing. It makes sense because they have money from their job that they can pay you or they are full-time artists, but to be a full-time artist, they have to do a bunch of gigs and that takes their time. It’s hard to balance all these things. What do you find is the best way for people to have the money they need for a proper marketing strategy? Are some of them working full-time and then putting the money into music marketing? Are some of them getting investors or using their life savings?

I enjoyed that video you posted, addressing this exact question of how you are supposed to do all this if you are working 45, 50 hours a week. Another thing I see is Andy, did you not get the memo? I have four children, ages 19 to 7. The stuff you are telling me I need to do, I’m either going to have to clone myself or start neglecting my kids. These are such huge issues, and then you have people who have said, look, we were going to be doing this big campaign in April, but I have to go to Phoenix because my mom is under the web. It’s like John Lennon said, life’s what’s happening when you are busy making other plans. Those two words to remember. There are only two words that your fans and readers should take away. Make it easy on yourself.

Banked content. It’s so easy. We are getting ready to do a documentary about our 25 years in the business, and we are going to make little shorts. It’s going to be fun, like old photos and going to put the photo down. I’m going to talk about them for like, “What is it? A minute?” Probably do a dozen of them. We have them banked, or if we get a package in the mail with a client’s merchandise, we will do the unboxing video or Throwback Thursdays. Heck, you could do a whole bunch of Throwback Thursdays because if you are an artist, songwriter, and musician watching this, you’ve got a history. Your discography shows what you’ve done. Don’t be bashful to show the world a younger version of you because there, you are able to, I got excited.

You are able to tell stories and believe. You me, it’s like anything else. If you are passionate about what it is you are presenting as you are with what you are doing and you are doing God’s work here, helping these people says they desperately need help, you are making a human connection with people. Like it’s okay to show people your vulnerabilities or how you were snookered at this gig you played back in 2014 where you were, there’s so many great stories and of course, you’ve heard a lot of horror stories.

No one has ever gone bust preying on the naivete of indignation. A lot of times, people, when they finally find me, are snookered and bamboozled. They have been taken to the cleaners, and they have been sold a bill of goods, all hats, no cattle. As someone who was active, they happened to us too, and my only advice to you is, who have they worked with?

There’s got to be a record of who they have worked with. Everybody gets reviews. If you want to go read the reviews, you can ask the marketing company to give you some references. I want three references. I want three people you can feel comfortable reaching out to learn about their experience. If said marketing company can’t do that, it is a big red flag.

Navigating The Challenges Of The Music Industry

Talking to actual people, or at least emailing with actual people because nowadays, AI, you can create fake testimonials and it’s frustrating.

No, there have never been more fake phony frauds, liars, fakers, and fairytale makers in this music industry than there are.

I get them too because I am a musician. I also get reached out to on Instagram direct messages and on email and everything by these people, and I’m like, “They are getting so smart. How do you tell?” The only way you can tell is to talk to people that you know are real people and ask them. This has been a great conversation. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for artists with all that we have in our arsenal? There are so many opportunities we have now that we didn’t have several years ago when you started, with the gating of the labels and all that stuff, we have so much more freedom, but then, in some ways, that makes it harder because it’s like, “We could do anything. What should we focus on?”

There was a time when the exposure opportunities were finite. In other words, you had MTV, MTV 2, and MTVU and they all had very strict, cramped programming opportunities. Same thing at BET, certainly at CMT, and here you are, an indie artist. You are going up against these big labels. How the hell are you going to get past the decision-makers and gatekeepers when you have all those big labels with super well-connected relationships?

Number one thing to do is make great music and always find an audience. Several years ago, this very month, The Lumineers. New band. They were Jersey folk and then they moved to Colorado and the song, I don’t know if earworm was a term in 2012, but they are like, “Do you think it’s okay? It’s hookey and cheesy.”

We wrote this because when we play in Brooklyn, all those insufferable think they know-it-all types in Brooklyn. They thought we were a goof. We added the shouts in there to try to get their sorry ass attention. I said, “There’s no way to know if this song is the same earworm that my staff and it is. There’s only one thing we can do, and presentation is everything.

You don't get a second chance to make a second impression. Yeah. This business is not for the weak of heart. Share on X

If you go to HIP Video Promo, we have told the story of all of those thousands of artists that you find there. Someone’s got to tell the story, and you and I both know that the artist and themselves can’t tell their own story. It’s not going to be good because they are too close to it. You can maybe have the manager write the story, but that’s not good because that’s the wrong angle.

You could get your best friend’s wife, who’s a professional writer. You need someone who’s done it and knows what the decision-makers’ gatekeepers are truly looking for. That’s one of my greatest joys as a Journalism and Mass Media major, Rutgers University class of ‘89, is being able to craft that story that when you are done reading it, it’s like, “I do want to watch this new music video.”

I would say that has to be paired. Someone who knows marketing knows how to write the story, but they also have to like your music because they are going to be passionate about the way that they write it. It’s important to make sure that your marketing person thinks your music is good and that they are not taking a paycheck and writing around the fact that they are like, “This sounds like everything else.”

Why First Impressions Matter In The Music Industry

What’s been very helpful to us. In other words, there are those that will not tell a potential new client a sport. “This is not a good first impression because I’m sure you’ve all been on YouTube. There are a lot of crappy ass crap videos out there.” My philosophy is, “Why would I take a potential client’s money if the video is not a good first impression?” Not only would that damage the potential client irrevocably if we were to promote that video, but what happens when set artists improve their creative output and make a great video? The decision-maker gatekeepers, they are going to remember the piece of crappy ass crap before and they are already SOL before they even get to look at it.

I have had to get past that because I had my Women of Substance Radio Podcast in 2007, and there have been people that submitted to me early in their career and I’m like, “I can’t believe they submitted this to me,” but then later they come back to me five years later and I see their name and I remember and I’m like, “I don’t know.” Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised, but it is possible that I would not even listen to their songs.

The truth has a certain ring to it. Over time, my percentage is 90% when told we are not working together on this one. They are appreciative and they respect that we weren’t out to get their money, and quite often, the real story comes out. They are like, “I got to tell you, I had such great hopes for this video. Such a great vision,” but the videographer I chose ended up being a jackass and you wouldn’t listen to my ideas. He became a tyrannical dictator, and then it took them three months to deliver the rough draft and the rough draft. It was a nightmare. I’m like, “You see?”

That’s clear. I see that now.

You can go back to the drawing board. It’s like experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards. Just don’t do any of the dumb things you did on this one and you’ll be okay. Then they call 8 or 9 months later, “Andy, do you remember me? It’s Bobby. You told me my video I sent sucked.” I said, “I didn’t say it sucked. I probably told you it’s not good.”

“You told me it was not good. You are right. In retrospect, now, that video did suck, and thank you for being honest with me because I ditched the lame-ass video director. I got a new one. I’m going to send you my new video.” They send the new video. It’s terrific and it makes you feel good because you did right by the big guy. You didn’t fib. Just know that that first impression is important, and a lot of people try to call in the second one doesn’t work that way. You don’t get a second chance to make a second impression. This business is not for the weak of heart.

Yes, that’s very true. You have to be able to take no a lot in order to get to a yes. I have one last question. We have had so much great conversation here, but I have one last question. For people who maybe don’t even know where to start, they are like, “I want to make a music video. I don’t even know how to start. I’m afraid if I do it myself, it will suck and it will get rejected.” Do you guys help people connect with videographers in any way, or do they only come to you once they have finished a product?

As the one-man sales crew, I talk to every client and I have had issues referring videographers myself. In 2017, we started HIP Video Productions. I figured, “There’s only one surefire way to make sure that the videos that we promote are terrific and we can assure ourselves of that if we make them ourselves.” It was 2017, and like anything else, it takes a while to get better at your craft. If you visit Hip Video Productions, you’ll see we create music videos, lyric videos, social media, and short form content. We did a whole series of sizzle reels. EPKs. Remember, folks, people listen with their eyes. If you are not utilizing visual content, start utilizing visual content.

I agree. That is awesome. They can go to HIP Video Promo and HIP Video Productions.

It’s correct. It’s so easy to reach out if you’ve got a question about marketing or how you want to level up, I get it. In a lot of these marketing companies, not only do you not speak to the person in charge of many of them, but you also don’t speak to anyone. I am fully available. I am quite certain you will share my contact info.

 

Yes. If they want to see you were talking about some of those social media posts that you do, where you bank them, do them all at once. I do similar stuff. How can they connect with you on social media?

Hip Video Promo and YouTube channel is at Hip Video Promo and I have also got a web series podcast called HIP To The Scene and I got tired of answering the same questions every week in, week out. We picked questions and I got an expert and asked him. Now, when they call and say, “I just watched Episode 9 or Episode 13.”

That’s a good idea. Thank you so much, Andy. You have so much experience over so many years to share. I appreciate all that you shared and understanding how the industry has changed over the years, but yet the fundamental principles of promoting your music are the same.

You are doing such great work. Think of all the people who have been able to move so much further ahead in their creative pursuits because they discovered you. Congrats and bravo on all the things you do to help your fellow musical kindred spirits.

Thank you. You are tapping into my happy place. When I think about the ripple effect of what I do and when I’m tired of doing episodes, I’m like, “This could help another person.” Thank you for pointing that out because that is what fuels me.

What seemed like sewing a little pebble into the lake in 2007, make no mistake. Every time you post one of these great new conversations, it’s a considerably sized rock. It’s reverberating out more and more. Have you noticed that?

I have. I do. There’s an inflection point at the beginning where you feel like you said that when you put stuff out there and nothing’s happening, you get better. Then you feel like there’s this point like, “I’m making some waves,” and everyone can get there. You have to be consistent.

Yes. Consistent, sustained promotion. Everybody reading, if you liked the content here, share this transmission with your fellow musical kindred spirits, and if it’s marketing that’s been putting you on a sick trip, as I mentioned to Bree, I’m here in the Great Garden State. Looking forward to your call.

Thank you. You guys reach out for sure. If you want to talk to Andy, he is available. Thanks so much again, and this was a great conversation.

What a pleasure. It was the best. Enjoy the rest of your day and we’ll speak again soon.

 

Important Links

• HIP Video Promo
• Women of Substance Radio Podcast
• HIP Video Productions
• Hip Video Promo on Instagram
• Hip Video Promo on YouTube
• HIP To The Scene

 

About Andy Gesner

Owner and president of HIP, Andy Gesner, has played in bands and released records since 1979, giving him first-hand insight into the complexities of the music industry. He channeled his expertise and passion for music into uplifting fellow artists—solidifying HIP’s reputation as one of the most trusted names in music marketing.

Over the past 24 years, he and his team have promoted over 4,800 music videos—championing some of the most renowned artists and best indie talent from all corners of the globe.

A partial client list includes: Bryan Adams, Asia feat. John Payne, Atom Smash, The B-52s, Band Of Horses, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bon Iver, Bright Eyes, Johnny Cash, The Chemical Brothers, Cobra Starship, Elvis Costello, Death Cab For Cutie, Fatboy Slim, Five Finger Death Punch, Flight Of The Concords, Flogging Molly, Foreigner, Jet, Korn, The Lumineers, Maroon 5, Method Man, Moby, Morrissey, Mötley Crüe, Papa Roach, Paramore, Pearl Jam, Sia, T-Pain, Trapt. and Weird Al Yankovic.