Tips for creating a commercial hit
For many producers out there, it seems as though they only need to brush their keyboard to make an instant commercial hit. Well-known DJs like David Guetta and Calvin Harris seem to score mainstream success with almost every track they release, with the latter currently racking up a record-breaking two months at the top of the UK charts with Dua Lipa single, ‘One Kiss’. Many people often ask DJs or producers if they know they have written a hit song when they finish it. The answer to that, most times, is a resounding “No”. So, all DJs can do is try to write a great song every day and then get it into the right hands. After that, it’s up to other forces to make it a hit. But the success of acts like Martin Garrix and The Chainsmokers is not down to pure luck. Here is what makes a song a hit:
Production value
The songwriter must write a song that is catchy, compelling and commercial. That means the song is well crafted, it connects to a broad audience and it causes action on the part of the listener. It may make them cry, laugh, dance, tap their feet, or go purchase the song. In any case, it causes them to react. It also has to be commercial in the sense that an artist would want to sing it and an audience would want to hear it.
Network
The track gets into the right hands. A great song that no one ever hears will not become a hit. It’s much harder to write a “hit-worthy” song than it is to get that song into the right hands. Dance labels are always open to hearing a potential hit. Great songs open doors. You won’t have to use a battering ram to get your songs heard if they are truly great. Once a great song gets into the right hands, whether they are heard by an artist, a producer, a record label A&R person, a publisher or a manager, the game is on. This is when things start to happen.
Collaborations
The right artist is matched with the song. The rumor goes, that Calvin showed Dua Lipa the instrumental for ‘One Kiss’ and she played it for her A&R person and the rest is history. The song was only pitched once. It was such a perfect fit for that everyone involved was on board.
Mastering is key
A great recording is made of the song. If the recording of the song doesn’t turn out great – great vocal, right tempo, right instrumentation for the genre, and an awesome mix – the song will likely die in the studio. A number of tracks that went into the studio, never came out because something was botched in the recording process.
Promotion
The record label promotion team gets behind the song. If the promotion team is forced or coerced into promoting the song, it’s not likely to become a hit. They have to be fully on board to get a song to the top of the charts. If they are crazy about the song, it’s got a great chance of being a hit!
Timing
The timing has to be right. If your song is flying up the charts and gets stuck behind the song of the year that is just camping out at the top, you might be denied a #1 when you would have had one otherwise. Or, the artist could have a personal or legal issue happen while your song is rising up the charts and radio could refuse to play it. The stars have to align to get a song to the top of the chart.
Moral of the story? It takes a lot of luck and a lot of good things happening to make a song a hit. The producer has to invest the vast majority of his or her time in writing other songs, whilst writing the current one. Axwell once said that writing a better song each day than you wrote the day before is the best way to really make a hit song. Given the success he has received on tracks like ‘Greyhound’ and ‘Don’t You Worry Child’, you know that by following his advice, you’ve got a shot.
The fact is, when it comes to dance music, there is not one particular way to start producing. Many start off DJing, and that introduces artists to the whole idea of learning to listen to what it is that people want to hear. Many DJs just instinctively know sounds, which can lead to production. Just by playing around with programmes like Logic Pro, you can just start making beats every day until you got better and better.
When you’re producing, you can have a great beat but sonically the sound might not sound like how it’s supposed to sound. That is until someone who knows what they’re doing actually touches the beat. A lot of people don’t realize it’s a skill; it’s not just making beats all day every day and hoping they pop. It is not like that. You have to pick the claps, you have to pick the right snaps. It is like putting together a painting. Most of the time, when you’re a producer you have your set sound — you have your set kicks, you have your set snaps, you have your set claps. So it doesn’t take that long to create new songs after you got your set package that you do. But it’s about how you use it and tweak it. And then it’s about layering the vocals and instruments on top of that.
Once you can master all of those skills, your big commercial hit is waiting for you.