Music Matters with Peter McKinnon

Music Matters to Peter McKinnon – A Toronto based YouTuber, photographer, and cinematographer.

He creates beautiful pieces of content about cameras, tutorials, travel, vlogs and his everyday life. In this episode, we’ll learn why music matters so much to video production and how it can ‘make or break’ your film. “Music definitely adds style to your content!”

When we think about music, we often under-appreciate its value in society. Peter briefly talks about this by asking you to imagine a world without music. Theorizing that we would lose so much emotion and even our own memories without it. That’s the power that music has and a key to why music matters!

Peter grew up in a household filled with music. Music at home, music at school, piano lessons, the music he listened to. Music has become a part of his DNA – and as such, means a lot to him! Considering this connection, Peter is a great resource when talking about the value of music in video production. In fact, it’s often the FIRST thing he thinks about before he even turns on his camera. Knowing a song he wants to use in a video makes the rest of the shoot easier. He knows the beat and the vibe of the track and as such can craft his video around that song.

Peter explains the importance of music in one bold statement: “The music that you choose for your videos is either going to make or break it. Entirely.” Picking the wrong song can have a dramatic effect on how the viewer perceives it. While it may be beautifully shot and edited – if the music feels off, your audience isn’t going to enjoy it as much.

As for Epidemic Sound, Peter found immediate value in the service. The act of trying to find good music proved very difficult. Epidemic Sound simplified that process – he can now browse, listen, download and even get full stems for each track easily. No worries about usage or monetization. He can immediately get the audio track into the timeline and edit! Less time worrying about finding the right track means more time to make movies!

You can follow Peter McKinnon on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. This episode of Music Matters was filmed and edited by Andreas Hem.