Hit Song Science

drë · Post by **drë** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:08 pm

I've been reading this book on songwriting: Righting Wrongs in Writing Songs

http://www.amazon.com/Righting-Wrongs-W ... =1-2-fkmr2

and it mentions hit song science technology, however was unable to find any download software.
anyone here had any first hand experience with this ? thoughts ?

ken · Post by **ken** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:07 pm

I remember talk in the past about a computer program that you could run your song through and it would tell you if it was going to be a hit, but i always thought it was kind of a joke. Is this what you are asking about?

drë · Post by **drë** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:17 pm

yeah,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_Song_Science

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:30 am

One thing that's unclear there is whether the software is capable of producing suggestions, such as "To get closer to Hit Cluster #11, you should remove the distortion from your electric guitar," or something like that. All the musicians interviewed in these two segments seem to be kind of up-in-arms about how the software removes agency from the creative folks involved in the making of the song, but that's not really true unless the software actually changes the music, or tells you what to do to make it a bigger hit. Otherwise, it's just letting you know whether your song seems to fit the pattern - well after the fact.

Billy's Little Trip · Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:22 am

Generic wrote:All the musicians interviewed in these two segments seem to be kind of up-in-arms about how the software removes agency from the creative folks involved in the making of the song

Because they feel they are gifted (please) and don't want someone like you making hit songs. They were those kids that didn't like sharing their toys.

I already know what that guy did to come up with the Norah Jones "miracle" hits. He steals melodies from old famous songs that have been forced into peoples brains for years, then changes them up just enough to call them his own, but keeps the important notes and flow of the melody he stole. PLUS, he only picks melodies that left a soothing happy memory. He's blinding us with science.

Of course, this is my morning coffee rant. No one has ever accused him of stealing melodies. But I know.....I KNOWwwww. You have to get up pret-tee early in the morning to pull one over on ol' BLT!

Oh, you want an example of my accusations? I knew you were going to ask.
Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

Peanuts - Christmas time is here

Oh, and one more thing. That Nevada ad on the Norah Jones youtube vid. She stole that from Song Fight's own Jen, (Quimby)! Hide your kids, hide your wives, hide your songs, because they are stealing everything out here!

Both songs end at 12 seconds. Coincidence? I think not.

There is no "hit song science", there are just the same famous melodies regurgitated for centuries.

inevitableguy · Post by **inevitableguy** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:44 am

The skeptic in me would like to see all of the data. The Wikipedia article cites two success stories where the software predicted great success and it worked out that way. However; how many times has the software predicted that something would be a bit hit only to have it sell 12 copies?

Also - could it be a self-fulfilling prophecy? If the software tells record executives that song X is going to be a hit, do the executives authorize more spending on marketing, thereby selling more records?

Billy's Little Trip · Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:24 am

Not to mention, every song will possibly start sounding like they have the same hook and flow.

signboy · Post by **signboy** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:38 pm

it looks like you can have your song analyzed
for free on uplaya.com. I'd be interested to see how some
of the winning/losing entries line up with the votes
they got.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:52 pm

SB, maybe you should take charge of that thread project. Run a hand full of songs through it every week and see who the weekly winners are, lol.

I kind of like that. Or maybe Spintown, he seems ambitious.

signboy · Post by **signboy** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:21 pm

heh, it certainly wouldn't be me, I'm on a freaking 28k connection.

BBABM · Post by **BBABM** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:07 pm

signboy wrote:heh, it certainly wouldn't be me, I'm on a freaking 28k connection.

I didn't know that still existed...

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:14 am

BBABM wrote:
signboy wrote:heh, it certainly wouldn't be me, I'm on a freaking 28k connection.
I didn't know that still existed...

Ok, you do said project, Mr Smarty Mouth Pants.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:10 pm

Yeah, this is a good way to determine if your music will be the same boring mainstream crap that I personally have no interest in listening to, much less writing.

Out of curiosity I uploaded two of my songs (Run Faster and You Believed It Yourself) and found out the real angle here: to analyze more than two songs you have to pay lots of money ($15 for two songs or $90 for 15 songs). For Run Faster it gave it a rating of "keep trying - The underlying patterns of this song are not similar to songs that that have been hits in the past, or the recording or mix is not of a high quality" which isn't unexpected. It gives no more useful information.

Apparently, "You Believed It Yourself" is a 7.8 which it rates as platinum-quality. Color me suspicious. I suspect that it'll bump the scam up a level where suddenly I should spend lots and lots of money to uPlaya to have them do the "market research" and whatever.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:16 pm

Surprise surprise, just got an email from them congratulating me on my hit and then:

Why is it important to promote your high-scoring music? With more than 12 million artists on the Web, it is vital to push out compelling digital content that sets you and your music apart. uPlaya is the only source for the patented and award-winning Hit Song Science technology. A strategic promotional campaign can increase sales and increase your fan base, and uPlaya is here to provide all of the marketing tools you need to make an impact on the Web. Email us today to receive more information on how to use uPlaya to promote your music.

You'd think that it would be much more lucrative for them to seek out talent and offer to help them make it big for a cut, like a traditional A&R. Of course that would make sense if their technology worked and wasn't just a confidence scam.

Billy's Little Trip · Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:43 pm

Well fluffy, I've never heard of you, so I'd demand my money back!

...you can't see me right now, but I'm stomping my foot and shaking my fist to the SKY!
....and my dog just got skeeerd and peed. Come clean it up, u monster.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:16 am

And now that I'd completely forgotten about this experiment, I'm starting to get LOTS of spam from them for various useless shady promotional services. Like now for the low, low price of $my_privacy I can get 100 plays FOR FREE of guaranteed airplay on some Internet radio stations nobody listens to.

Post by **Spud** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:44 am

You already have airplay on an internet site that nobody listens to...

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:28 pm

ken wrote:I remember talk in the past about a computer program that you could run your song through and it would tell you if it was going to be a hit, but i always thought it was kind of a joke.

Send me your song. I'll tell you with 99.9% accuracy if it'll be a hit. Guaranteed. No joke.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:43 pm

Spud wrote:You already have airplay on an internet site that nobody listens to...

Yeah I know, right?

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