Some musicians wouldn't be keen on the term 'commercial' being used to describe their music. Even 'pop' has developed certain connotations alluding to dull, soulless music that has been mass-produced for a passive audience.
However, being a commercial success need not be a result of 'selling out' or compromising the quality of your music - it simply means your music can reach a larger audience because it fulfils certain criteria which have been the same for decades and do not vary the world over.
Interestingly, these criteria can be looked upon as 'six golden rules' that, if followed, can increase your chances of becoming a commercial success while making the music YOU want to make.
According to music industry professionals, commercially popular songs have the following six criteria:
1. A good melody
A strong melody - where at least part of the song (chorus or verse) gets stuck in the listener's head - is a major contributing factor to the commercial success of a track. Hip hop artists, those that are the most commercially successful anyway, will tell you that including strong melodies in their tracks have helped them to climb the charts in a way that great beats alone would not enable them to do.
2. A strong chorus
The chorus is the 'hook' in a song and your aim is to create a chorus that people will want to sing along to - try to make the name of the song clear in its chorus - if you want people to download your track online, they need to know what it's called!
3. Lyrics the listener can emotionally connect with
This does not mean that your lyrics have to be profound or depressing, it just means that they need to convey feelings and emotions that listeners can identify with.
4. High production values
Making sure your recordings are well produced is essential for commercial success. Bad production is detectable immediately and will undermine your songwriting and musicianship. This is not an area in which to scrimp so get a good producer to get your band signed and your tracks sold.
5. Great vocals and musicianship
Although this is an important element to selling records and getting them played on the radio, it is not the be all and end all of becoming a commercial success. The quality of the songs is what you should be concentrating on, but it's worth trying to attract talent if you are a songwriter looking to make it in the pop music scene.
6. Keep songs on the short side
The biggest commercial hits are rarely more than four minutes in length. When we are full of ideas and just starting out in music, it can be tempting to include every idea, riff, bridge and lyrical phrase we have come up with in one track. Fall into this trap and your song will become 'messy' and far too long to be played on the radio.
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