24-10-06, 04:26 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 10,023
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Hit Man
So Predictable
The NewYorker Video Malcolm Gladwell talks about engineering hits. http://www.newyorker.com/festival/videos/fevi_video5b - js. |
24-10-06, 05:11 PM | #2 |
Earthbound misfit
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Moses Lake, Washington
Posts: 2,563
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I'm not surprised. Pop music has to be formulaic or it wouldn't be pop music. Still, I'd like to get my hands on a demo of that program if it's available.
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24-10-06, 09:36 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 10,023
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you and me both. still i'd think it's closely held.
hit predictors are good even after songs are made. they can be essential for promo dollars and radio would kill to know which song will get them high ratings, but since a lot of effort goes into making the product to begin with it's somewhat self-defeating to find out where you stand only after you spent your money. the real value would lie in knowing what would be a hit before you committed all your resources to the project. a sort of of pre-hit detector in other words. interestingly, gladwell reports on just such a system. but not for music. it's being used for something really expensive: movies, and it's being used before they're made! his article can be read here. it's good, and long (and good and long) but if you have an hour i really recommend his speech earlier this month at the newyorker festival, and that's here in the little newyorker web player. i pulled out the stream link becuse it looks much better in a stand alone player (rt click/copy link/paste in player), but for some reason it hangs around 12 mins in so i was forced to use the new yorker link anyway. it's a great presentation and thought provoking, at times even poignant - especially the very last sentence. i can't say i believe a word of the prediction parts - i find gladwell is short on rigor - but even if that's true and he’s long on bs it doesn't necessarily mean these algorithms can't work, although i’d be mighty surprised of there was really anything to it. - js. |
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