If you want your songs to have a better chance at commercial success, you’re smart to care about what people want to hear on the way to work.

Let me tell you a little story about a meeting from early in my Nashville days.

I was sitting down with Ralph Murphy at ASCAP. (If you’re unfamiliar with Ralph, look him up. He’s great.) I played either a slow song or a sad song… but most likely it was a slow AND sad song. Ralph looked at me and asked, “who wants to hear this on Monday morning on their way to work?”

Great point, Ralph.

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Ralph schooled me in “Murphy’s Laws.”

First thing on a Monday morning, most folks are heading off to either a school or a job they don’t particularly like. Their coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, and they sit droopy-eyed behind the wheel, dreading the next 9 to 10 hours.

Now is not a good time to hit them with a funeral march. (They likely already feel like they’re on one of their own.) Radio wants to give them something to put a smile on those dreary faces.

Don’t believe me that radio wants to put a smile on your face? Then riddle me this. Are the most popular morning DJs deep and quietly thoughtful, gloomily sharing the most negative news from the night before? No.

The most popular radio DJs are… FUNNY.  There’s a songwriting lesson in that.

They make the listener smile. They give off a positive vibe. Do you think those DJs are in a hurry to kill the positive energy by playing a bunch of slit-your-wrist negative songs? No way!

Sure, they may play one or two “downer” songs, but it’s going to be a small minority of the songs they play. So that’s morning drive-time radio.

What about the other drive-time? What about the drive home? Now the listener is probably worn out or stressed out after a long day of work they didn’t enjoy.

The listener has their own problems- who wants to hear about the singer’s problems?

Maybe they want songs to help them forget about the day or songs to help them blow off some steam. Odds are, they don’t want songs to send them into a deeper funk on their drive home.

Or maybe the listener had a good day, and they want to celebrate. Well, that’s definitely time for a positive song!

Any way you look at it, radio is mostly looking to play positive songs – songs that make their listeners feel good, feel empowered, and generally open to listening through the next round of commercials.

When in doubt, write positive songs.

Knowing simple truths like this can make a big difference in YOUR songwriting.  Applying “cut/able” techniques will help you write market-smart songs: songs that have a competitive advantage in the market.  

If you want to dive into songwriting craft; if you want learn how to write songs that will get you noticed in the music business, I have a great opportunity for you.

Every Monday night in October, I’m hosting The C4 Experience.  It’s an exclusive, live online event where I help 10 writers like YOU create explosive growth in your commercial songwriting.  I want you to win, and I’m going to help you write songs that artists want to sing, radio wants to play and fans want to hear.

CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS AND RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN THIS EXCLUSIVE EVENT!

God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

Brent

Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US, a #1 in Canada, and a top 10 in Texas.  His songs appear on 5 industry-certified gold & platinum albums & singles… so far.  He also hosts a top-rated songwriting and music business podcast called, “The C.L.I.M.B.” which can be found on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.