Record label experiment - How can get into the UK top 10 charts, using only the web?

None of this will work in the US. Since I'm not in the UK, I have no idea what results you'll get. As far as I know, you could write a song about farts and go gold in the UK.

 

What you should do is analyse all of the say top 100 or 200 songs (by sales) ever. Then take the most important aspect of all those songs. E.g What genre is most popular in the list? Were they sung by a man or a woman? were they sung by one person or a group? What instruments are most popular among the list? In descending order what words are most frequently used in these songs? Are songs with lyrics that make sense more popular than songs with lyrics that just try to be catchy cough lady gaga cough.

Eventually you will whittle your way down to the most popular genre with the most popular singer by gender with the most popular instruments, the most popular words for lyrics etcetera. Then use your new found statistics as guidelines from which to base your song.

Then as others have said. Go viral with a build up before sale build anticipation in potential buyers.

 

Hi,

I think it's great you are trying to create a hit song. You obviously know what you're doing and have access to the necessary resources to give yourself a realistic chance of carrying out your dream. Also there is no better time in history for
an independent "label" to create a hit song. My "negative" comments were just to try and keep things in perspective. that's all.

Good Luck
Don

 

There is already a company that has a computer program that has analysed all the hit songs in recent times. While it can't tell you if a new release will be a hit it is suppose to be able to tell, with a high degree of probability, if a song won't be a hit. I can't remember where I read about the program but it was in a fairly reputable magazine, such as Scientific America or Time. I'll have to search for it.

Cheers Don

 

Here's a link to one story about that hit predictor software
http://www.garagespin.com/2005/04/26/hit-song-science-software-predicts-big-singles/

BTW if you use the program and have a huge hit don't forget me, the sensei who guided you on your path to success

Hi did a bit more searching, this is the company's websitehttp://uplaya.com/ Anyone can upload there songs and get them tested, never checked out the pricing though.

Cheers Don

 

Youtube is great for that, I believe the actress in Glee Snshine Charazon was found via Youtube

 

As good as it may be it would never compare to a group of ears round a table in discussion. Music has big elements that cannot be expressed in ways a computer can understand.

It reminds me of a programme I watched on TV where the presenter played two pieces of music and asked you to guess which one was generated by a computer algorithm and which one was composed by Beethoven. It was very obvious which was which straight away. The one generated by computer sounded cold and clinical and you could tell it was composed mathematically. Where as the Beethoven song was full of energy and emotion.

I guess there would be no harm in running a song through the program but I wouldn't give the results much weighting.

 

Find "early adapters"

When the cowboy herds a 10000 head of cow, he doesnt worry about them all...he finds the leaders and manages them a few cows...the rest of the 10000 heard follow

Creating a following has to do with listening to...understanding and convincing, the early adapters....the ones that resonate with your labels music. These few people are usually highly social people with lots of friends and high influence among them.

 

That software sounds interesting, thanks for sharing Donza! =)

Also, I see your point Hawkal, although I think the software is more based around comparing the songs to past hits acoustically, and looking at the similar past songs sales figures, rather than knowing if it is definitely a good song, and isn't a replacement for the human ear, and how songs can resonate with people.

And arcticsunshine... I love the way you put that, was very well done, and I see fully what you are saying. I need to target the right people to create a ripple effect with .

 

This is such an interesting discussion. Marketing is such a powerful tool in the music industry today that a tune can become number 1 regardless of if it is any good. Repetition encourages people to buy music even if it's rubbish. The X Factor is an example of pure music marketing - you don't have to do years of the gigging circuit etc anymore to develop a fan base. It is a sad fact really. Be really interesting to see how you get on, good luck.