Writing Theme Songs

This is a great exercise, and can be a lot of fun, as well as possibly get you some songs picked up. You've seen the commercials where former or current hit songs have been mercilessly chopped up to fit the time constraints. You've probably also seen the commercials where some lucky songwriter obviously wrote something specifically for that product, and was chosen for that skill or pitched something that the company liked. Think you can do as well? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

PRODUCT THEMES

Sure, there are probably some ad agencies in town with their own writing teams that do this sort of thing, and you can always hand them your resume and try to get a job there. If you can't be one of those, you can always try making up something for a local company whose commercial sounds particularly lame to you and try pitching it to them, the radio or TV station you saw the original ad on, or whichever agency they are using. This may get you some angry reactions from the person who wrote the original ad, so be gentle in how you do this so you don't get too many noses bent out of shape. You can also try just making up something for some company that you think could use a theme song that is only using spoken ads so far, and see if they nibble at your ideas. Be prepared to rewrite-you may be asked for multiple revisions. Be inventive, and really try to come up with something that is attention getting for that product's primary audience, and really fits the image they have of their product, or what you feel that image should be. If you have some buddies in business that are finally getting to the point of using audio marketing, this may be a great way for you to get a foot in the door, too.

SHOW THEMES

This can be a quick way for you to get your music out to a mass market, too. If you have a local cable station that does local shows, you might put up a notice on their bulletin board that you are available to do theme or background music for their shows. Keep in mind that many local cable stations have a no-pay policy, and that you can get in trouble if you get paid for doing this, so check what their policies are. To be honest, I was thrilled when my band got some airplay on the local music channels, even if I didn't get paid for it, since it was great publicity, and got us a little credulity, if not any money. If a song of yours gets regular airplay of a top-rated local show with thousands of viewers, it could be a great stepping-stone to paid jobs up the pipe. You can, of course, always pitch good instrumentals and short tight tunes to show publishing firms at your local songwriter's pitch sessions. Many are in constant need of background music, and new theme songs, and some of the larger music websites, like MP3.com, offer music-licensing possibilities to songwriters who list with them that may get you some of this work. You should practice writing those tight, impactful and short songs to better your chances.

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