The description under your music video is the first place a director, a producer or a curious fan looks to find out who made it. Credits cost nothing to write, they take ten minutes, and they are one of the few parts of your video page where you decide exactly what is said. Most artists either skip them or throw names into one messy paragraph.
Who belongs in the credits
Anyone who made a creative contribution to the song or the video gets a line. Split them into two groups, music first and video second.
For the song:
- songwriter (lyrics) and composer, if they are different people
- producer and arranger
- featured vocalists and session musicians
- recording, mixing and mastering engineers
For the video:
- director and producer
- director of photography and camera operators
- editor, colourist and visual effects artist
- stylist, make-up and hair
- choreographer and dancers
- actors or featured guests
- location, production company and anyone who lent equipment
The rule is simple: if the person would feel hurt to be left out, name them. Ask each person how they want their name written, including spelling in Latin letters. A small mistake in a name is a big thing for the person who owns it.
A format that is easy to read
Put the credits below the first two lines of the description, where the song and the streaming links go, and above the hashtags. Use one role and one name per line, in the same order on every video.
- Words and music: Lalə Nova
- Produced by: Elvin Rza
- Mixed and mastered by: Murad Hasan
- Director: Aysel Qəmbər
- Director of photography: Tural Rəhimov
- Editor and colour: Nigar Sadiq
- Choreography: Studio Yay
- Filmed at: Old City, Baku
For a large cast of dancers or extras, write one line with the names separated by commas rather than twenty short lines. If the list is very long, put the key credits in the description and the full list in a pinned comment.
Keep it factual. No jokes, no "special thanks to the universe", no long thank-you speeches. A short "Thanks to" line for people who helped without a formal role is fine at the end.
Tag channels and profiles
When a collaborator has a YouTube channel, write their @handle next to their name. YouTube turns a handle into a link to the channel, so viewers can click through and the collaborator gets a visit. Do the same with Instagram handles if you want, written as plain text, for the director, the stylist and the location. Only tag people who agreed to it, and only what is useful. Twenty handles in a row look like spam and do the opposite of what you want.
If a brand or a venue appears in the video, mention it by name. If any part of the video was paid for by a company, remember that YouTube has its own disclosure setting for paid promotion, so check the current rules before you publish.
Why credits help you
Credits help in three practical ways.
First, search. People look for a director's name, a producer's name or the place where a video was filmed. Words in the description are part of what YouTube reads, so a clean list of real names gives the video more ways to be found.
Second, relationships. A director who sees their name spelled correctly and linked to their channel will share the video. That sends new viewers to you, and it keeps the director on your side the next time you need a clip.
Third, future work. When a label, a brand or a production company wants to see what you can deliver, a video page with clear credits shows who did what. It also helps your collaborators: their portfolio is built from pages like yours.
Match the credits to your release
Write the song credits the same way in the video as in your release. When you submit a release in the CULT portal you enter the artist details and credits, so copy the same spelling into the video description. If the songwriter appears as "Lalə Nova" in one place and "L. Nova" in another, search engines and platform systems treat them as different names, and so do people.
Before you publish
- Are all names spelled the way each person asked?
- Are roles written the same way as on your earlier videos?
- Did you tag only people who agreed, with working handles?
- Do the song credits match the release data?
- Did you save the final list somewhere, so the next video starts from it?
Agree the credit wording with the team before the shoot, even in a short message. It prevents arguments later and it takes a minute. If you forget someone, edit the description at once and tell them. A description can be changed at any time, and a quick fix is remembered better than a late apology.