How to turn a song into an AI music video with HeyBop.ai (step by step)

This guide follows one video from start to finish in HeyBop's AI music video generator, from preparing the track to exporting it for each platform.

Step 1 — Prepare the song

The create page takes MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC and OGG audio files up to 50 MB and works without an account. You can also paste the song's link instead — Suno, YouTube, TikTok, SoundCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox — and HeyBop fetches it (a Suno song brings its lyrics for the captions). Any source works as long as you hold the rights, including a Suno export.

• Upload the final master. The video is cut to the beat grid of the file you upload, and that file is the soundtrack. Change the song's length or arrangement afterwards and the cuts won't match.
• Know where your hook is. HeyBop finds it too; knowing your own answer helps you judge the short versions.
• No song yet? Music Lab makes a full song with vocals from a prompt or your own lyrics for 40 credits, and there are free starter tracks made for HeyBop.

Step 2 — Pick a look, a cast and Sing along

Open the create page in any modern browser, on desktop or phone; you don't need an account to start. Three creative choices shape the video:

• A look. There are 12: Cinematic, Anime, Lo-fi, Neon City, Surreal, Nature, Abstract, Retro VHS, 3D Render, Documentary, Noir and K-Pop Stage. Each adds tuned prompt terms to every scene, and you can override it on any single scene. Choose for the song's mood, not the flashiest thumbnail.
• A cast (optional). Up to three characters — people, pets or mascots — each from up to three photos; a character sheet counts as one photo. Photos give the scenes a reference for your cast. Review each scene: faces and other details can still drift and need corrections.
• Sing along (optional). Adds performance shots in which a character sings the song to camera, lip-synced to the vocals.

Without a cast, shared character, wardrobe, palette, lens, light and world directions help scenes follow the same visual style. Review the generated shots for consistency.

Step 3 — Make my video, or go scene by scene

Make my video runs the selected song and direction through to the final cut. Start with a short output or explicitly choose a longer version. Review the selected duration, settings, credit quote and export rights before payment. Free setup is an editable direction draft, not completed analysis or a generated storyboard. In the step-by-step route, a paid storyboard can be reviewed and edited before you generate its clips.

Use one click for hooks, teasers and first drafts. Use the storyboard route for a full-length video, or whenever you already have specific images in mind.

Step 4 — What happens while it renders

HeyBop's AI director works in four stages:

1. Listen. It analyses tempo, beats and onsets, the sections (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro) and where the hook hits. This beat grid is the source of truth for everything after it.
2. Shot list. It plans short scenes against the beat grid, with prompts, camera moves and durations suited to the chosen output. Reference images guide the cast and visual direction.
3. Shoot. Generate clips from your storyboard with the quality and price you chose.
4. Cut. Clips are trimmed to the beat grid and cut on the beat, with bigger, faster shots in the choruses and room in the quiet parts. A colour grade for the look, plus grain and a vignette, runs over the whole cut, and your song is the soundtrack.

AI handles the shot planning, scene generation and beat-synced edit. Timing depends on length, quality and demand. HeyBop emails you when it's ready, so you can close the tab. Failed or moderated generations are refunded automatically.

Step 5 — Fix a scene, add captions, export

Watch the whole video once before changing anything. Every scene is its own card: rewrite its prompt or regenerate just that scene for the price of one clip, and the rest of the video, the cut and the sync stay as they are. If the framing is right but the motion is off, regenerate; if the framing is wrong, rewrite first. The prompting guide covers scene prompts and camera moves.

Lyric captions are optional. Export MP4 in your selected format. One-time short video (USD 4.99): ⁨15⁩s standard video with a watermark. Personal use. First video only; no auto-renewal. Release-ready video (USD 9.99): Turn your song into a ⁨30⁩-second music video in Standard quality. Ready to share, watermark-free, with commercial rights for this project. ⁨600⁩ credits included. No subscription or auto-renewal. Add credits to extend the same video and keep its export rights. Membership: Watermark-free commercial exports. Credits arrive on each paid renewal. Extra generation credits: Credits never expire. Top-ups pay for generation; they do not unlock watermark-free or commercial exports. You need the rights to the music and photos you use.

Every export is an MP4 (H.264): 9:16 at 1080×1920 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, 16:9 at 1920×1080 for YouTube, and 1:1 (1080×1080) or 4:5 (1080×1350) for feeds. Extra formats of the same video are 20 credits each, and a 15-second hook teaser can be exported free from scenes already generated in that project. This export does not include free scene generation. Paid subscriptions export 1080P without a watermark and include commercial use. The complete video purchase or trial upgrade licenses one project for commercial use without a watermark; other Free-account exports are 720P with a watermark, for personal use. The guide to TikTok, Reels and Shorts covers what to post where.

What it costs

Credit prices depend on the purchase; every button shows its credit cost before you click. A video costs a 0-credit storyboard, its clips and a 20-credit render:

• Per clip (6 s / 10 s): Standard 95 / 160 credits (the default); Professional 250 / 420. Professional accepts images checked for the absence of realistic human faces. Use Standard for portraits of anyone, including selfies, or images we cannot verify.
• A 30-second video on Standard, without photos or singing: 495 credits. Buy credits before generating.
• Script generation is free (⁨0⁩ credits). For a 3-minute song with 6-second clips and no reference photos or singing, Standard uses 2,015–2,870 credits; approximately $34.93–$44.99 in generation top-ups from a zero balance; Professional uses 7,580–7,580 credits; approximately $115.95–$115.95 in generation top-ups from a zero balance. The lower estimate reuses chorus shots; the upper estimate creates every shot fresh. Photos, singing, replacements and extra exports can add credits. These are generation-only top-up budgets. For the same Standard example, a new Free account’s one-time licensed purchase is approximately $34.94–$46.96 before tax, including the project’s watermark-free commercial export rights and required generation packs. Neither range is a fixed-price finished-video promise. Review your own quote before generating.

Sign up and get ⁨150⁩ credits. Script generation is free (⁨0⁩ credits). Review your script before creating ⁨3⁩ storyboard images. Images and videos use credits. One-time short video: ⁨USD 4.99⁩ once · ⁨300⁩ credits. ⁨15⁩s standard video with a watermark. Personal use. First video only; no auto-renewal. Release-ready video: ⁨USD 9.99⁩ once · ⁨600⁩ credits. Turn your song into a ⁨30⁩-second music video in Standard quality. Ready to share, watermark-free, with commercial rights for this project. ⁨600⁩ credits included. No subscription or auto-renewal. Add credits to extend the same video and keep its export rights. Pay ⁨USD 5.00⁩ to upgrade your short video: ⁨300⁩ extra credits and watermark-free commercial export for the same project. Membership: ⁨USD 7.99⁩/week · ⁨600⁩ credits; ⁨USD 29.99⁩/month · ⁨2,600⁩ credits. ≈ ⁨USD 6.92⁩/week · save ⁨13⁩%. Weekly equivalent based on 12 months / 52 weeks. Billed monthly. Watermark-free commercial exports. Credits arrive on each paid renewal. Weekly or monthly auto-renewal. Cancel anytime. Completed licensed works keep their rights. Existing subscriptions keep their terms. Extra generation credits: ⁨USD 4.99⁩ once · ⁨300⁩ credits; ⁨USD 15.99⁩ once · ⁨1,000⁩ credits; ⁨USD 44.99⁩ once · ⁨3,000⁩ credits. Credits never expire. Top-ups pay for generation; they do not unlock watermark-free or commercial exports. No new annual plans. Standard quality, one song and up to one singing shot. Extra attempts and higher quality use more credits; review the quote before generating.

Checklist

• The final master (MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC or OGG) and the rights to it.
• One look; optionally a cast of up to three characters, up to three sharp photos each.
• A length: hook, 30 seconds, 1 minute or the full song.
• Every scene watched once; only the misses regenerated.
• Captions checked; the generated video exported, with an optional free teaser export from those scenes.