Decoding the Algorithm for Pop Music

fb4f writes "Over at Modplug, they have an article describing a mathematical algorithm to predict if a given song will become a hit or not. Paraphrasing the article, a Spanish company called Polyphonic HMI has made a business out of analyzing song submissions and predicting their "hitability". Here's their description of the algorithm and here's their FAQ. They claim to have predicted the commercial success of Norah Jones through this method. Here's my question (which is not fully answered in their FAQ): if they (music company executives) are currently using the algorithm to screen submissions for their "hitability", can we (people who listen to music) use the same algorithm to reject recycled tunes and encourage originality? I for one, still like the fresh talent and community feel of the tracking scene."

Comments

Re:Classical

[Silh]

Among classical listeners you are more likely to find greater discernment though, especially among people who play instruments... they're likely to enjoy music for which they get a good part. I know some people who really don't like Beethoven too much since the orchestral part they play in his pieces is utterly boring (a commonly seen thing from the classical period forward for supporting parts).

Some people prefer music from the romantic period, some like more modern fare, and some like myself prefer baroque (Beethoven I find boring, Mozart... so-so; Handel would be my composer of choice). It's somewhat misleading to lump everything into just 'classical' just because it involves the traditional classical instruments. There are too many varied styles. And most 'classical' listeners I know listen for different things... technique, difficulty of the part... lots of variety.

The other thing about classical music is you'll get many varying interpretations depending on who's conducting/performing. Regardless of who composed it, there'll be performances I disagree with and performances I'll love just because of the tempo, the dynamics, and of course, the quality of the performers.

As popular music ... probably 99% I just can't stand listening to. Most of the time it's a simple a thing as their doing nothing but singing the same note over and over, or the same phrase of 3 or 4 notes repeated ad nauseum. It's very hard to appreciate it musically when there is very little or no melody... and usually it just ends up grating on my nerves. Often the only part I can really appreciate is the drummer if they do something more interesting than the standard rock beat, or maybe the bass if they're doing some embellishing and not just the same 3-note loop as well. And the vocalists ... well, compared to a trained classical voice, you can't really compare. I tend to pay more attention to the composition than how well the performance is done, but that all goes to heck if the singer doesn't manage to stay in tune...

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Colonel Cholling]

Just because.