How to Write a Song for Radio

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By D King
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Write a Song for Radio

Songs inspire creativity, emotion, connection and intellect- only how do go about writing a song that you could actually market? If you could only write that hit song, maybe you could license it or sell it to another artist and make a living out of writing songs? If you practice writing songs, eventually you will become good at it and you could make a living at it.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Paper
Pencil
Piano or Guitar

Step 1

ANALYZE POPULAR SONGS

Look closely at the way popular radio songs are structured. How many verses are there? How many choruses? Is there a bridge? Where are the hooks? Hooks are important because they hook the listener and they make the listener remember the song. Try writing a similar song lyrically like a popular song of your choice.
Step 2

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Otherwise known as KISS - keep it simple songwriter! You need to be able to convey your message to the listener, and if they don't understand what your song is about, they won't connect and love it. Make sure to stick to one story or topic. The music should be simple as well. Your basic structure is I, IV, V, like C, F, G.
Step 3

HOOK OR TITLE

Get to the hook within the first 60 seconds. Usually the hook is the title of the song and are within the chorus. Use works that people can relate with. Love is of coursce something everyone can relate with. You can always write about love.
Step 4

REPETITION

Repeat the chorus about 3 to 7 times. Make it stand out from the rest of the song so it'll stay in peoples heads. Usually you'll write about a problem going on in a verse and in the chorus is the solution. Get to the title in the chorus fast, within 60 seconds.
Step 5

MARKET RESEARCH

You are shooting for the 7 am drive to work. Usually the market is for women age 25 to 40, so write specifically for them. Use 1st "I" or 2nd person term "you" as everyone because people are into themselves.
Step 6

FORM

The most popular form is 4th form, verse/pre-chorus/chorus/verse/pre-chorus/chorus/bridge/instrumental/pre-chorus/chorus. 2nd most popular form is 3rd form, verse/chorus/verse/chorus/instrumental/chorus.
Step 7

LENGTH

Keep your song 3 to 4 minutes as you don't want to bore your listener. The music should be mid to up tempo and if you have a conversational story type song about love that has some irony in it, you might have a hit.

Comments

Flybyknight said

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on 12/18/2009 Great article. I have written a bunch of songs. Is there an easy way to get the music written for the copyright if you are not a musician.