The Song MachineThe Song Machine
Inside the Hit Factory
Title rated 4 out of 5 stars, based on 41 ratings(41 ratings)
Book, 2015
Current format, Book, 2015, First edition, Available .here's a reason hit songs offer such guilty pleasure--they're designed that way. Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a "hook," but today's songs bristle with them:a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers, modern songwriters have discovered the musical "bliss point." And just like junk food, the bliss point leaves you wanting more. In The Song Machine, longtime New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook tells the story of the massive cultural upheaval that produced these new, super-strength hits. Seabrook takes us intoa strange and surprising world, full of unexpected and vivid characters, as he traces the growth of this new approach to hit-making from its obscure origins in early 1990s Sweden to its dominance of today's Billboard charts. Going beyond music to discussmoney, business, marketing, and technology, The Song Machine explores what the new hits may be doing to our brains and listening habits, especially as services like Spotify and Apple Music use streaming data to gather music into new genres invented by algorithms based on listener behavior. Revelatory and original, this book will change the way you listen to music.--Adapted from book jacket.
Author Seabrook, a staff writer at The New Yorker, explains the science and technology of creating pop hits, and ponders the artistic, cultural, economic, and regulatory issues of the distribution and marketing of music in the digital age. Writing in a descriptive style with humor to appeal to general readers, Seabrook takes readers to visit recording studios, computer labs, and board rooms around the world, always returning to Sweden’s Cheiron Studios in the 1990s and Swedish songwriter Max Martin, the epicenter of the new hit-making machine. Seabrook gleans insights from interviews with musicians, song writers, producers, techies, lawyers, and marketing professionals. Examples are taken from real-life musicians including Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Kesha. Of special interest is discussion of Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming media platforms. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a "hook," but today’s songs bristle with them: a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers, modern songwriters have discovered the musical "bliss point." And just like junk food, the bliss point leaves you wanting more.The Song MachineNew YorkerBillboardThe Song MachineThe Song MachineThe Song Machine
A longtime staff writer for the New Yorker travels around the globe to trace the growth and catalog the techniques of the specialized teams who crank out catchy hit music engineered through science and technology to get stuck in your head. Tour.
A staff writer for the "New Yorker" travels around the globe to trace the growth and catalog the techniques of the specialized teams who crank out catchy hit music engineered through science and technology.
There's a reason hit songs offer guilty pleasure—they're designed that way.
Author Seabrook, a staff writer at The New Yorker, explains the science and technology of creating pop hits, and ponders the artistic, cultural, economic, and regulatory issues of the distribution and marketing of music in the digital age. Writing in a descriptive style with humor to appeal to general readers, Seabrook takes readers to visit recording studios, computer labs, and board rooms around the world, always returning to Sweden’s Cheiron Studios in the 1990s and Swedish songwriter Max Martin, the epicenter of the new hit-making machine. Seabrook gleans insights from interviews with musicians, song writers, producers, techies, lawyers, and marketing professionals. Examples are taken from real-life musicians including Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Kesha. Of special interest is discussion of Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming media platforms. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a "hook," but today’s songs bristle with them: a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers, modern songwriters have discovered the musical "bliss point." And just like junk food, the bliss point leaves you wanting more.The Song MachineNew YorkerBillboardThe Song MachineThe Song MachineThe Song Machine
A longtime staff writer for the New Yorker travels around the globe to trace the growth and catalog the techniques of the specialized teams who crank out catchy hit music engineered through science and technology to get stuck in your head. Tour.
A staff writer for the "New Yorker" travels around the globe to trace the growth and catalog the techniques of the specialized teams who crank out catchy hit music engineered through science and technology.
There's a reason hit songs offer guilty pleasure—they're designed that way.
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- New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2015]
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