Put Your Music to Work: Composition for Commercials

Thousands of TV commercials are produced and scored every year, and the advertising business is always looking for something fresh, new and different. In this online course, composers fine-tune their musical skills to become more precise and focused composers. Each week, participants are given a different commercial video to score, as well as a second writing assignment that is music only. The latter assignment is to build up the student’s own library of music. Assignments are constructively critiqued by the instructor with specific detailed feedback on what improvements are advised to make the music fit the commercial requirements and stand out in a sea of competitive resources. At the end of the course, students who completed the course have a compilation of their work to be used for their own promotion at their website or online viewing portal. Topics include concepts of advertising techniques, styles of scoring, the ad formula, self-promotion, standard business practices and how to deal with competitive demos.