Search tips

I know what it's like.  You heard some killer music on a commercial but no obvious way of finding who it is and a search of this site has produced zilch.

It may take quite a while to track it down and sometimes it may seem quite impossible.  
I would certainly make sure you follow these basic steps before you give up;

• Firstly, DO give this site a few searches before you give up!  It's a bit disheartening for me to get requests for help when the answer is already on the site!
  Remember you can search on all kinds of things from lyrics to brand name to things you may have seen in the advert.  I try to include as much as possible so give it a go.
  
  How to search
  
  Having entered a search term you click Search and are presented (hopefully) with some results.
  The first item you will see for each result is the song title and artist.  Now check the summary below which shows your search term highlighted in bold.
  More often than not the first result may hold the answer.  Click to find out.  If that is a dead end then click on your Back button and look at the other results and their summaries.  If you have a lot of results your search may have been too broad.  Try other search terms - if I have seen the ad I will have noted down unusual items/situations/prominent lyrics so try anything that comes to mind.
  
  Make sure your spelling is correct!  Common errors include;
  "Guiness" (should be "Guinness")
  "Levis" (should be "Levi's")
  and don't get me started on "Mitsubishi"....
  

• Post a request for the music on my messageboard.
  

• You can also try lyrics at Google or any good search engine.  My first attempt is  usually something like this;
  "new york, new york"+lyrics
  By enclosing the exact lyrics in quotes you hopefully filter out non-relevant results.

• I normally recommend posting to the  uk.media.broadcast.commercials newsgroup but it is VERY quiet these days.  Try posting to uk.media.tv.misc or find a newsgroup that might have relevant threads by using Google Groups.  For example, a newsgroup dedicated to Peugeot cars might have relevant threads if you are after the music used in Peugeot advertising.  
  For non-uk commercials try alt.tv.commercials.
  
  As ever with newsgroups try to familiarise yourself with what is an acceptable post and try to find the FAQ for the group before posting.
  
  There are also web-based discussion boards, like mine, which may require registration.  Google will help you track these down.
  

• Remember to try emailing the advertiser directly and seeing if they can help.

• Sometimes you might overlook an obvious search term that could yield the answer.  As an example I searched in vain for music to an advert shown by the Maltese tourist board.  When I finally decided to enter 'Malta' into Amazon I quickly found the answer... 

• Finally, if all else fails it *might* be a track from a new album or a band that someone is trying to break.  Keep an eye out for new movie soundtracks and check out the new CD releases in your paper.  
  
  Check out New and Future Releases from Amazon.co.uk  
  
  Obviously this is no help with older stuff but I have found that, particularly on tv programmes, producers often select backing music from the more recent CDs.