It is funny how things from different stages of your life sometimes suddenly come together to form something new and unexpected.
In the 1980s, I produced radio and television programs for Dutch broadcasters. In the 1990s and up to around 2010, the playing field shifted as I ran a full-service communications agency. Yet, essentially, I was doing the same thing all along: creatively conveying a message from a sender or producer to a recipient or target audience. As advertising professionals, we produced hundreds of radio and television commercials for brands and companies.
And today, we are doing it again—but in a completely different world.
Through Living on the Côte d’Azur, we operate as international buying agents for clients seeking exceptional properties in locations such as the Côte d’Azur, Portugal, and Ibiza. Naturally, much of our work takes place online.
Photos, videos, stories, social media, websites, and other digital content are essential for showcasing both properties and locations.
And during the creative production phase, something unexpected happened.
Apparently, the South of France always sounds like an accordion
While creating our real estate videos, we frequently looked for suitable stock music. Music that captures the essence of the South of France: sun, sea, elegance, freedom, long summer evenings, and that typical Mediterranean pace of life.
But the available selection turned out to be surprisingly limited. When you search for music to match the South of France, stock music agencies seem to imagine us wandering the market all day with an accordion tucked under our arm.
To me, an accordion brings to mind a traditional pub in Paris, not the Côte d’Azur or the atmosphere we wanted to convey. So a simple idea emerged: why not create the music ourselves?
Writing lyrics, composing with AI
We started writing lyrics about unique homes and locations. Not as advertising jingles, but as real songs with a story. Verse 1, Verse 2, chorus, Verse 3, and the chorus again. Then, we used AI to experiment with melodies, arrangements, and vocals.
A long time ago, I worked with Jacques Noyons, a brilliant composer from Den Bosch in the Netherlands. He had a gift for taking musical lyrics and coming up with a song that would get stuck in your head all summer long. Or a radio commercial where Ferry de Groot sang about his brother’s woodworking machinery business in Rosmalen. I never forgot that—the way you can create a lasting melody out of thin air.
For us, the first tracks—written for villas in the South of France—were primarily a process of discovery. What works? How do you avoid making it sound like a commercial? How do you create a catchy chorus? Which musical style suits the Côte d’Azur without falling into tired clichés? I found it amusing to hear passionate singing about 200 square meters of living space with a sea view.
But there was room for improvement.
After about ten songs, we started to find the right format.
And then something interesting happened.
It turned out the songs were enjoyable to listen to even without the real estate videos.
Once you hear a melody like that, it sticks with you. That’s exactly what good music should do—and, looking at it from my background in advertising, exactly what good communication should do, too.
Viewership and listenership figures went through the roof
We are still fine-tuning the concept. We’ll likely keep doing so, as we’re never truly 100% satisfied. But the figures already tell a story.
Since we started using our Property Songs, viewership and listening figures for some content have increased more than thirtyfold.
For us, that is perhaps the most compelling proof that people aren’t interested in yet another standard real estate video featuring the same stock footage and background music.
You need to create something that makes people stop scrolling.
Something that sparks curiosity.
Something people remember.
From properties to the villages of Southern France
That’s why we’re now taking the next step.
Alongside songs about unique properties, we are launching a series on the towns and villages of Southern France. Not just about how they look, but above all about the feeling associated with such a place.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Mougins, Sainte-Maxime, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Nice… every village and every town has its own rhythm, history, and character.
So why shouldn’t it have its own soundtrack, too?
Official new releases
Last week, we officially released the first two tracks from this new direction:
“Saint Paul de Vence (Strings at Sunset)”
The song is about that feeling that Saint Paul de Vence has to offer—with the pétanque court down by the gate and that sweeping view over the hills. We also pay a brief tribute to some of the famous artists who lived here, such as Marc Chagall, writer James Baldwin, Jacques Prévert, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret, as well as the founders of the Fondation Maeght: Aimé and Marguerite Maeght.
“Everything is possible in Cannes”
The song is about the vibe that makes Cannes unique. From buying flowers and fruit on the Suquet market, shopping on the Rue d’Antibes, eating oysters at Astoux et Brun, hiring a helicopter to go to Saint-Tropez, and having a party at La Môme. Everything is possible in Cannes.
Suddenly, we’re on Spotify too
What started as background music for our own real estate content has suddenly evolved into a standalone music project.
The tracks are now distributed internationally and are available on platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL, Pandora, Qobuz, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and dozens of other international music and social media platforms.
That wasn’t something we had foreseen when we set out to find an alternative to stock music.
But perhaps that’s exactly what makes it so much fun. If you’re looking for a fitting tune for your Instagram post in Saint Paul de Vence, you can simply choose our song.
Ultimately, it’s still all about attention
Looking back, actually less has changed than you might think.
In the eighties, we produced radio and television.
Then commercials.
Now we create websites, videos, social content, and music for real estate.
Technology is constantly changing, but the principle remains the same: if you capture attention…you want to achieve that, you have to create something people want to see, hear, or share.
And in an international real estate market where thousands of agents showcase more or less the same villas, pools, and sea views every day, standing out is more important than ever.
Ultimately, we aren’t selling music. We help people find and buy exceptional properties.
But if a song about a villa, a village, or a view makes someone watch thirty times longer, hum the melody later on, and remember our name as a result, then that music has more than done its job.
And honestly, it’s just incredibly fun to create. Right there on your terrace, with a sea view and fast Wi-Fi. It really is the best way to work creatively.
The next series of Property Songs, featuring the villages of Southern France, is already in the works.
To be continued—and, above all, to be listened to.
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