Lately I’ve noticed a whole lot of TV commercials using a similar sound. It’s generally acoustic and organic with a singer-songwriter feel. Some of the selections are taken from songs by known artists like Katie Herzig, others from unknown artists like The Hunts, and still others seem to have been created for the ad. Click on the YouTube videos below to listen to three of the dozen or so I’ve found.
Category: MUSIC BUSINESS
Whether you want to get your songs covered by other artists, sing them yourself, or get placements in film & TV, make sure your songs fit the needs of today’s music industry.
Write Songs for TV Commercials
What was that song on the Delta Faucet commercial, the cute one that goes “So many things your hands can do”? It sounds like a children’s song, something maybe you might write for kids. Well, it is a children’s song. It’s from a Sesame Street record featuring The Count, the vampire Muppet who simply adores numbers. Could you write a song like that? You probably could and possibly you already have.
Put Yourself in a Music Supervisor’s Shoes
Want to sharpen your pitching skills to Film & TV opportunities and get more forwards? Here’s the best exercise I’ve ever found for strengthening your Film & TV songwriting and pitches: Do what a music supervisor does. Find songs that underscore the emotion, energy, or atmosphere in a scene and test them against the picture!
At the end of this post, I’ll give you some resources for contacting music supervisors and pitching your songs. But before you do that, make sure you have what they’re looking for. Don’t burn a contact because you didn’t do your research. If you’ll spend a couple of afternoons following these instructions, I promise your pitches will be closer to the mark and your film and TV songwriting will be stronger.
Q&A: Should I Copyright My Songs?
Here are three copyright questions I get asked all the time…
Q: Should all my songs be copyrighted?
Before you start pitching your song to publishers, film & TV music supervisors or music libraries, before you enter it in a contest, or otherwise spread it around the industry, I definitely recommend copyrighting your songs or lyrics. In the United States, you’ll do that through the Library of Congress. Their online e-filing system makes it easy.
If you live outside the U.S. be sure to research the copyright laws in your country. That said, there are many countries that share copyright agreements with the U.S. that allow you to protect your song through the U.S. copyright office. Find out more about registering foreign works in the U.S.
You’ll also find a printable form, FAQ, and helpful instructions at the Copyright Office website. There’s a fee for each form you file – whether it’s online or via mail – BUT you can register groups of lyrics or songs on a single form. Do that!
Can You Pitch a Home Recording?
Q: Do you think it’s okay to pitch a home recorded version of a song or should I have the song professionally recorded?
…The answer is: t will depend on how elaborate your demo needs to be. You can record a simple acoustic guitar and vocal or piano and vocal with a minimum of gear. A couple of microphones may be all you need for a Singer-Songwriter demo. If your song is good, your playing is confident and steady, and your vocal performance is emotionally authentic, you’re well on your way to having a song that might work for the Film & Television market or streaming for fans of acoustic music.