All The Hits Fit To Predict
NPR Morning Edition looks at David Meredith’s Hit Song Science:
“[It’s] a series of algorithms that we use to look at what’s the potential of a song to be sticky with a listener,” Meredith says. “To have those patterns in the music that would correspond with what human brain waves would find pleasing.”
Meredith says his software found that hits have certain common patterns of rhythm, harmony, chord progression, length and lyrics. A study conducted by the Harvard Business School found that the software was accurate 8 out of 10 times.
Pretty awesome. But New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones fears that such tools could result in quirky songs being passed by. He notes one song that people “just love” that the software gave only a 6 out of 10:
