Carl Martin

Chorus writer · Hook maker

Carl
Martin.

The 30 seconds your song, your film, your ad is missing. He'll write it. If it clicks, he'll keep a share. If it doesn't, you owe him nothing.

Book a meetingSee what he writes →
Carl Martin performing live — acoustic guitar, hat, warm stage light

"He got his first guitar at twenty-one.
By twenty-two, Trevor Horn was paying his rent."

The story

Nobody saw him coming. Then everybody did.

21
His first guitar. A birthday present. He'd never played a note in his life. Within a few weeks he'd written a stack of songs. Within a few weeks after that, people were listening to him with a look on their face they couldn't quite hide.

Carl at 21, a few weeks after getting his first guitar, playing an original track. This is the speed at which it started.

Carl Martin playing acoustic guitar outdoors
22
A flat in Notting Hill, paid for by Trevor Horn and SARM Studios. He was recording albums before most people his age had left home. The rooms he was walking into had held Seal, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and half the records you grew up on.

Manchester. Carl supporting The Lightning Seeds, performing his own track "Only For You" — filmed by an audience member, shortly before the record deals came in.

Rising
He was being talked about in the same breath as Ed Sheeran. A publishing deal. Then three separate major labels came in with record deals. Managers like Clive Black and Matt Ross around the table. He was, by every measure the industry uses, next.
Carl Martin close-up portrait
No.
He said no. Three times."I didn't want to spend my life around people who were quietly hoping I'd fail. That's not what I got a guitar for."
Now
He writes the chorus your song is missing. He writes the sixty seconds your film needs to land. He doesn't chase a stage. He turns up with a guitar, listens to what you're making, and if he can hear the hook in it, he'll write on it.

Example — Carl on a collaboration

"Think I'm Dying"

A track Carl wrote on with a collaborating artist. Chorus and vocal by Carl.

Like what you hear? Send Carl what you're working on and he'll call you back.

Get in touch →

From Carl's catalogue

A few of Carl's own tracks.

Written, performed and owned outright by Carl — free to be licensed for film, TV, ads, or trailers. Hear something that fits a scene or a spot you're making? Or want Carl to write something new alongside you? Get in touch.

Carl Martin performing live at a pub
16 tracks

  • All I Ever

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  • Only 4 You

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  • When We Were Kids

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  • Dressed in White

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  • This Road

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  • Skinny B

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  • 54 Council Houses

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  • Mama

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  • Shame Father

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  • Blame It on You

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  • Take Me to London

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  • The Streets

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  • What Does It Matter

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  • What Does It Matter — V2

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  • Skinny Little Bastard — Live

    Featuring Trevor Horn, Ian Broudie, Lol Creme and Stephen Lipson.

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  • Skinny Little Bastard

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Want to use one of these, or have Carl write something new for your project?

Get in touch →

What Carl does

Voice and guitar first. Everything else can be built on top of it.

Choruses & hooks for artists

Send him your track. If he likes it, he writes a chorus on it. No invoice, no retainer, no upfront fee. If the song sells, he keeps a share. That's the whole deal.

Music for film, TV & drama

Thirty to sixty second upbeat pieces built around a moment in the cut. Theme tunes, title beds, and the emotional lift a scene needs. Credit plus a fair share tied to how far it travels.

Ads & brand spots

Short. Hummable. Written to land the point in one pass. Original music, not stock — so the spot sounds like the brand, not like everyone else's spot that quarter.

The rooms

He's worked with, learned from, and recorded in the same rooms as some of the biggest names in music.

Carl Martin playing acoustic guitar

Direct collaborators

  • Trevor Horn.
  • Lol Creme.
  • Ian Broudie.
  • Clive Black.
  • Matt Ross.

Studios that have hosted his sessions have also hosted

  • Seal·
  • Rod Stewart·
  • James Morrison·
  • Queen·
  • Bob Marley·
  • Madonna·
  • The Rolling Stones·
  • George Michael·
  • Paul McCartney·
  • Led Zeppelin·
  • Rihanna·
  • Dua Lipa·
  • Robbie Williams·
  • Pet Shop Boys·
  • Frankie Goes to Hollywood·
  • Depeche Mode·
  • The Clash·
  • Iron Maiden·
  • Jamiroquai·
  • Stormzy
Carl Martin portrait

How it works

No invoice. No pitch deck. Just a meeting.

  1. 01

    Send him what you're working on

    A rough track. A cut of the film. A brief for the spot. Whatever stage it's at.

  2. 02

    Meet him in person

    He'll come to you, with a guitar. He listens, and he plays. You'll know within an hour whether it's right.

  3. 03

    If it clicks, he writes on it

    No fee upfront. If the song, the show, or the spot flies, he keeps a share. If it doesn't, you owe nothing.

In the room

The strange thing about meeting Carl is how ordinary the first ten minutes feel. He's warm. He's easy. He asks about you before he says a word about himself.

Then he picks up the guitar, and the room changes.

He doesn't audition. He doesn't perform. He just plays what he hears in what you're making, and by the end of it the thing you brought in sounds like a bigger version of itself.

The only way to understand him is to be in the room with him.

Carl on guitar and vocals — his own track, recorded in-studio with Ian Broudie, Trevor Horn and Lol Creme (10cc). The same session that led to three record deal offers. He owns the track outright. He walked away from the deal.

One meeting

Book a meeting
with Carl.

Tell him what you're working on. He'll come to you. You'll be surprised how down-to-earth someone this talented actually is.

Book a meeting →