Custom songs are a relatively new concept. It is an industry that exists almost entirely on the internet. At this point, I do not see it as being overly competitive in terms of which website a client might choose. Instead, the challenge is to legitimize the industry itself. The act of purchasing an original song written to specification as a gift or promotional tool is not something that many people think of. Before worrying specifically about competing with other websites, I feel like time should be given to raising public awareness about custom songs in general. The growth opportunity for custom songs in general and for Custom Serenade specifically hinge on making this public awareness a reality. Interest in custom songs seems likely to grow as digital technology becomes more commonplace and simple. Industry leaders have yet to emerge, but my ten years plus experience would put me in a position to consider myself an authority if not a leader.

Custom Songs or Personalized songs can be produced in a number of ways. Most are written from scratch and recorded according to the client’s needs. However niches exist such as re-writing the words to a popular song, and writing lyrics to a pre-recorded song template. There are also sites that cater specifically to children. There are also popular music performers who sell custom songs written in their specific style for their fans.

Custom songs from Custom Sereande provide not only a great gift, but also a great gift giving experience. Custom Songs give the gift giver the opportunity to express their feelings about the recipient of the gift, and to be involved to varying degrees in the creative process. It is a perfect gift solution for “the person who has everything” and for the generous person who wants to be more involved in their choice of a gift. A custom song does not take up room in the closet or on the shelf. It is not fattening and doesn’t violate any dietary restrictions. It will not wither or fade away.

Similarly, with the internet becoming ever more popular, theme songs for blogs, podcasts, and websites as well as soundtracks for videos are more in demand. At Custom Serenade we offer an affordable alternative to licensing royalty free music. With us the client will have the opportunity to tailor the music to his/her needs.

2015 was a great year for Custom Serenade, mainly due to the interesting songs that we were lucky enough to work on, and the wonderful people that we had the pleasure of working with! Included here are some of our favorites from the past year, not in any particular order. If you enjoy listening to these custom songs, consider joining us on Facebook where we often post songs as well as music related fun, gifting advice, and also special offers!

Curtain Call is a drama society from the U.K. that provides cultural capital to their community! We feel lucky to have been commissioned to write and record their theme song! Keep up with the great work that they are doing here

Next we have a song for a great lady who has a lot of caring friends who helped create this great song for her! So, here’s wishing her many great shopping sprees and happy travels in the future!

Having a man commission a song for the love of his life is something we’ve done a lot, but this guy wasn’t content to stop there. He also created this great video to go with it! That’s what we call going above and beyond! Clearly, Barbie is a deserving partner.

Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, and in this case it was a gift not to one person, but to three of them. Here, a crafty gift giver treated her Mom, Sister and Aunt to this surprising present! Each year the McPhilimy women travel for the holidays, and you can hear all about it in this song!

Now we have a song from a loving husband and his son, to a wonderful wife and Mother. She’s always there whenever they need her, and so they gave a little something back! It doesn’t get any better than this.

This one was commissioned for a birthday, but it could just as easily have been for Father’s Day. Here’s to a great,interesting and FANTASTIC guy! A world traveler, piano player and more. This song features a kazoo solo!

Weddings are a big part of what we do, and this was a special wedding indeed! Reading the information submitted for this song was like reading an adventure novel, and hopefully the end result will make you feel like dancing. I had the pleasure of actually doing a live performance at a pre-ceremonial party!

Here’s a song from a gal to a guy! It is a rocking tribute to a great boyfriend, and it was lots of fun to work on. Perhaps some day we’ll all benefit from one of Ben’s great inventions. In the mean time, let’s rock out with his song!

Well, that’s it for the 2015 list. Here’s hoping that 2016 will yield just as many great tunes. If you’re interested in getting a custom song for any reason at all, let us know about it!

Many of us remember  advertisements such as these in the National Enquirer or Weekly World News calling for poets or would be lyricists to submit their work, with the promise of fortune and fame in the form of hit songs. The companies that produced these adds were referred to as Song Poem companies, and the songs they produced have become known merely as Song Poems.

 

When I describe what we do here at Custom Serenade, people often refer to these ads, asking if what we do is similar.  Well, it is and it isn’t, so I thought I would use this post to highlight the differences in the world of Custom Songs and that of the Song Poem.

The main similariy between the Custom Song business and the Song Poem business is that most  custom song services do offer to create and record music that will turn the poetry or lyrics that someone has written into a song. But (A) this is only one of many services that we provide, and (B) there is no claim of fame or fortune.

When one would respond to the advertisements of the song poem companies by submitting their poetry, they would usually be met with a very enthusiastic reply stating that their words could definitely become a hit song. All that was needed in order to start them down the path to being an award winning lyricist was a demo recording. Naturally, whichever song poem company it was would be ready and eager to make that recording for a certain price. The starry eyed poet on the other end would often pony up the money and would receive in return a recording of a song that used their lyrics, and that is usually as far as it would go. To my knowledge no song poem ever became a money making hit-(although some  have become popular amongst collectors of the unusual).

Although stardom was never achieved by any song poets, many did relish hearing their words set to music.  It was a thrill to have a recording of a song that they had created the words for.  This is how the Song Poem industry survived through its hey-day in the 1970s and 80s, through the 90s, and to some degree even today.

At Custom Serenade when we create music that will accompany the lyrics of a client, our goal is to help a person reach their creative potential.  If someone wants to write a song but doesn’t play any instrument, we are here to help.  If a poet writes something they think would work as a song, we’re here to help.   If a person has expressed themselves through words in any way and wants to take it to the next level by adding sound to it, that’s what we do.

The other big difference between custom song companies and song poem companies, as mentioned earlier, is that adding music to lyrics is only a part of what is offered.  Most custom song businesses, ours included, also write songs based on information that clients provide.

For more information about song poems, which are fascinating, go here. To listen to a bunch of them go here.

I’ll write more about song poems later, but in the mean time here is an excellent example of a song in which we created music for a client’s lyrics: