Writing Songs for TV Commercials

More and more indie songwriters are getting their songs in TV commercials. It’s a market that pays high fees and offers great exposure if you’ve got what they need—songs that express the energy and emotion they’d like people to associate with their product.

Let’s take a look at three songs used in national ad campaigns for major brands. Listen to the songs, watch the ads, read my analysis, and then see if you can write and record something in a similar style.

A Machine For Making Beautiful Things

I’ve been thinking a lot about the art and craft of songwriting (as usual) and I keep circling back to a couple of obvious facts:

  1. Every song begins with an idea in your mind.
  2. Every song takes shape because something in you propels it forward, adding to it, sculpting it, changing, strengthening, and polishing it as it moves along.

It struck me that this process is something like the workings of a machine, a Machine for Making Beautiful Things. And like any machine, it needs a “User Manual.” So here’s my idea of what you might find in…

A MANUAL FOR THE PROPER USE AND CARE OF A MACHINE FOR MAKING BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Congratulations on being the owner of a marvelous Machine. You are in possession of something that is both universal (a creative mind) and yet totally unique to you. With proper care, it will give you a lifetime of remarkable service.

GET TO KNOW YOUR MACHINE

Your Machine for Making Beautiful Things is made of countless shining parts whose angles and planes reflect the world like mirrors in the moonlight. It has conveyor belts and cogs that make unexpected connections between ideas and images. Everyday objects, events, and words become intriguing, alluring, strange, or compelling when the Machine goes to work on them.

Hit Song Guide: “Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw

Country superstar Tim McGraw.

“Highway Don’t Care” is a great example of Contemporary Country songwriting. The lyric paints a vibrant, detailed picture of the characters and situation, offering an original approach to a familiar theme. And even though we all know “lyrics are king” in Country music, the melody played an equally important role in sending this song to the No. 1 spot on the music charts.

“Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw

Songwriters: Mark Irwin, Joshua Kear, Brad Warren, Brett Warren

TECHNIQUES TO HEAR AND TRY

  • Engage your listener with your opening line.      
  • Use images to express emotion.
  • Make your melody memorable with repetition and variation.
  • Learn to use your demo production “ears.”

Hit Songwriting: “All On Me” – Devin Dawson

“All On Me” is the breakthrough debut single for Country artist Devin Dawson. It zoomed up to #2 on the Nielsen Radio charts, topping 19 million views on YouTube and 95 million listens on Spotify (and still climbing). A remarkable achievement for a single by a brand new artist.

I love digging into songs that propel a brand new artist up the charts. Those artists don’t have a billion fans breathlessly waiting for their next release, guaranteeing it shoots like a rocket straight into the Top Ten. Nope. Their releases have to make it on the strength of the song and performance. It takes an exceptional song with a lot of appeal to make that happen and that’s what makes these songs so much fun to pull apart.

SONG GUIDE

“All On Me” – Devin Dawson

Writers:  Devin Dawson, Jacob Robert Durrett, Austin Taylor Smith

TECHNIQUES TO HEAR AND TRY:

  • Use a lyric “measuring stick” to express emotion.
  • Fresh rhymes are happening in all mainstream genres.
  • Create a contemporary melody using phrase patterns.
  • Make your hook stand out with a rhythmic melody line.

Hit Songwriting: “Hello” by Adele

Hit songwriting with Adele: Hello.
Adele

I often suggest in my songwriting posts that you learn to sing and play (or just sing ) successful songs. But why is that so important? Because you miss so much when you don’t. It’s like the difference between zooming down a highway at 80 mph versus rolling slowly along with your head stuck out the window.

When you slow down, you notice things… road signs, blue sky. You feel every bump in the road and the smells on the breeze. At 80 miles-per-hour you can feel the emotional rush; when you slow down, you can learn what the rush is made of.

I thought it might be fun for you and I to slow down and go through the process of learning to play and sing a hit song together. I chose “Hello” by Adele because, as I listen to it, the 80 mile-per-hour experience is pretty good, and something tells me that if I slow down and take a closer look, there might be some good songwriting tips I could use to create that experience in songs of my own.  So, let’s take it for a drive.