Will it be a hit? Computer knows

Could this potentially make the modern music scene even less interesting than it is today?

Record companies are to test a "juke box jury" computer program that can tell if a song is likely to top the charts.

Like the guests on the TV pop show, launched in the 1960s and revived in the 1980s, the software predicts whether a tune is going to be a "hit" or a "miss".

The program, called Hit Song Science, correctly forecast the success of jazz songstress Norah Jones months before she topped the US charts and won eight Grammy awards.

Full Story at Ananova

 

Music doesn't work that way. You can't gauge music like this.

 

I had no idea Hal 9000 was still around.

 

Really? I had no idea...

Insane article. Let's start making music for computers. I hope this is not going to catch on.

What a waste of time and hard drive space. Who's idea is this originally? What does this program think of The Beatles? No potential, propably.

 

...and people wonder why the record industry is in such dire straits! No faith in the artists, no leadership, no vision. I'll bet Dire Straits would be nixed by the software program.

 

I am not surprised that the labels are actually willing to try this. I suspect they would love to eventually put that volatile factor (whether the song/album is actually good or a piece of garbage) out of the equation that they use to calculate ther rate of return on their investment.

With that sort of thinking, a logical step further would be to have the software WRITE the hits based on the proven combinations of "melody, harmonic variation, beat, tempo, rhythm, pitch, chord progression and fullness of sound".

What a dreadful prospect.

 

Wow. Labels HAVE been acting sorta "DUH" lately.

Maybe radio and cable TV, as well as sales being so lame lately is sparking this trend....