HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from Corporate Music - How to Compose with no Soul Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Corporate Music - How to Compose with no Soul

10 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this commentary1 month2019–2023 score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN uses it as a go-to critique of bland corporate music and as a punchline whenever a slick corporate video appears.

Composer Tantacrul explores how corporatism produces soulless background music, and how some companies use such music in propaganda-style campaigns. He composes several corporate styles to show their tropes, with some music theory along the way.

“One of the better takes” (HN, 2021)

1 recommendations · 2 citations · 3 jokes · Commentary

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@eurekin Feb 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Free Music for Your Videos
I wish someone would explain how this actually happens. I've had many takes at this exact topic and always ended up feeling most provided reasons are just speculation. One of the better takes: [this video] Still, no info from actual producer as to why he made the music as it is.
One of the better explanations of bland corporate music.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@poslathian Dec 2019 Cites it
on HN thread The Rise of the Architectural Cult
Fashion is a key word here. Most customers - especially commercial developers - have a shockingly neutral sense of taste. Here is the budget, build the most fashionable thing you can. I think loads of modern buildings are essentially the same type of creative product as corporate video music. [this video]
Analogy between corporate music and modern buildings.
@UncleMeat Nov 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Google: Transforming the Future of Music Creation
Commercial background music is already sterile, even if it is written and performed by humans. Here is a video from four years ago complaining about this sort of commercial music - [this video] .
Earlier video complaining about sterile commercial music.
@xyproto Nov 2019 Makes a joke
on HN thread Zotonic: An Erlang Web Framework
Watching this video about composing corporate music made watching the intro video extra fun: [this video] I also like the old telephone, which I believe is a reference to one of the old introductory videos to Erlang.
Corporate music video makes the framework intro funnier.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close