Corporate Music - How to Compose with no Soul

In this video I explore how corporatism produces soulless music, some of which is amusingly awful! I also explore how tech and oil companies with dubious business practices use music as part of propaganda campaigns to convince the public that they support ecological activism. With some music theory thrown in along the way, I also compose a few kinds of different corporate styles to show the various tropes that exist. Some of it is blundering nonsense. Some of it is a little more sinister. All of it is garbage. Enjoy!

---

---

The music in this video

The music during the section about Tottenham Hale Station & Theodor Adorno was written by:
Kristopher Mariasy

Other music was contributed by

Liam Taylor (Monster Trucks)

& David Bruce (Ukulele)

All other music in this video was written by me (apart from very short snippets of music heard in the clips for Audi, IBM and Apple)

---

Thanks to Jonathan Lee (Pentameron) for providing much better subtitles than mine. Really appreciate the work and I've learned a lot about how to do it properly.

---

An introduction to Adorno:

Adorno: A Critical Introduction - Simon Jarvis, 1998

Advanced:

History & Class Consciousness, Georg Lukacs, 1923

Dialectic of Enlightenment - Adorno, Theodor, 1944

[bbb]

Searching for “Skip Ad” button at the start of the video.

[laraweinberg]

My dad, a music producer for commercials, confirmed that all of this is correct. His clients give him soulless music from other companies' commercials and basically ask him to copy it without getting sued.

[andrewnguyen-dang]

This music just screams "We reward our employees with Pizza parties instead of pay raises when we hit record profits."

[NothingXemnas]

Corporate music is also a way to make things weirdly neutral. Some people don't like metal, some people don't like EDM, some people don't like classical music, and so on. Relating something corporate to a "tribe" or "culture" can cringe all parties for different reasons, but by making something NO ONE can relate to, it makes it neutral by being hated, frowned upon or simply being ignored BY EVERYONE.

[ereeeeennn]

“This makes us sad.”
“Here at Shell, we are sad.”
*CHORD*

[_pnda]

The “life is great” corporate songs truly do piss me off.

[ewanstewart]

Can I say that this actually applies to all corporate art. Whether it's simple, easy to digest flat shapes and lines that somehow feel so businesslike, or the strangely painful smiles that every actor whether in poster or video has plastered across their face.

★☆☆☆☆

Examples contained too much personality, didn't make me feel empty enough.

[purepandemonium]

"Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall" conveys some tension that is completely lacking from corporate music. Humpty could have a great fall! It's more like "Humpty Dumpty sat on a pillow." There's no tension, there's no risk that something could happen. All the king's horses and all the king's men are very busy doing important work to maximize shareholder value.

[dozydude]

As much as I hate soulless corporate music, I also hate it when companies use songs I actually like because then I always associate the song with the advert.

[grape]

I watched this drunk on New Years Eve, subscribed, binged your content, then composed three pieces (whilst drunk) of corporate music. 11/10.

[DurvalLacerda]

Wait until "CorporateWave" becomes a thing 5 years from now

[earwigplanet]

This is every COVID-19 related advert airing right now. In fact, IKEA has one with this choir in the background going "oo-oo-oo" that was used just a few months ago in a Christmas ad.

[Powertampa]

"Avoid development at all cost" hehe that's a corporate joke if there ever was one

[jaifarrell]

I work as a technician in a venue that routinely hosts corporate events, and they are teeming with this music. As a classically trained musician (and bearer of a soul), I experience such torment on a daily basis.

[VechsDavion]

I friggin HATE that specific type of commercial jingle that has acoustic guitar matched with bells. I've seen it in grocery store commercial music, and insurance commercials. It's the most saccharine godawful drek, I can't stand it.

[evelyntheidiot]

"here at shell, we are sad."
the part about the oil companies pretending to care about the environment is stupidly accurate

[slendeaway]

When he said "Bo-ba-whay" I felt that 😔

[ThaetusZain]

this kinda sounds like the first thing you're ever kind of proud of making in a DAW when you're 14. It's like "it sounds nothing like the stuff I want to do, but it no longer sounds like a cat running across the keyboard with too much reverb!".

[kevinsteel]

Has everyone noticed every single advertisement for a car is the same