Items related to The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
Synopsis
New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook tells a fascinating story of creativity and commerce that explains how songs have become so addictive.Over the last two decades a new type of song has emerged. Today's hits bristle with "hooks," musical burrs designed to snag your ear every seven seconds. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are industrial-strength products made for malls, casinos, the gym, and the Super Bowl halftime show. The tracks are so catchy, and so potent, that you can't not listen to them.Traveling from New York to Los Angeles, Stockholm to Korea, John Seabrook visits specialized teams composing songs in digital labs with novel techniques, and he traces the growth of these contagious hits from their origins in early '90s Sweden to their ubiquity on today's charts.Featuring the stories of artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna, as well as expert songsmiths like Max Martin, Ester Dean, and Dr. Luke,?The Song Machine?will change the way you listen to music.
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Review
"Revelatory, funny, and full of almost unbelievable details" (Eric Schlosser, author of 'Fast Food Nation')
"As addictive as its subject" (Sunday Times)
"A gripping investigation of modern hitmaking... Seabrook’s writing is as sleek and swift as a dolphin" (New Statesman)
"This is a fascinating tale about an amazing phenomenon" (Walter Isaacson, author of 'Steve Jobs')
"Seabrook subtly explores not only the insides of a song, but how a song gets inside us" (Observer)
"Revealing, frightening, funny and unsettling" (Roddy Doyle)
"Seabrook’s book takes the reader into a hidden world behind some of the most high-profile cultural products of the era" (Guardian)
"A highly engaging narrative" (Economist)
"Weaving its way through two-and-a-half decades, one of The Song Machine’s greatest achievements is to situate the pop song within a shifting matrix of technological evolution, diminishing revenue streams, and warring egos" (Independent)
"Seabrook takes us on a lucid and well-researched tour of the places where modern hits are created" (Peter Clark Literary Review)
Book Description
How do you make a song a global smash hit that is guaranteed to make $millions? Read The Song Machine, and find out
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The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 00052858175
Stock Image
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 2 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Over the last two decades a new type of hit song has emerged, one that is almost inescapably catchy. Pop songs have always had a hook, but today's songs bristle with them: a hook every seven seconds is the rule. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are highly processed products. Like snack-food engineers, modern songwriters have discovered the musical bliss point. And just like junk food, the bliss point leaves you wanting more.In The Song Machine, longtime New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook tells the story of the massive cultural upheaval that produced these new, super-strength hits. Seabrook takes us into a strange and surprising world, full of unexpected and vivid characters, as he traces the growth of this new approach to hit-making from its obscure origins in early 1990s Sweden to its dominance of today's Billboard charts.Journeying from New York to Los Angeles, Stockholm to Korea, Seabrook visits specialized teams composing songs in digital labs with new track-and-hook techniques. The stories of artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna, as well as expert songsmiths like Max Martin, Stargate, Ester Dean, and Dr. Luke, The Song Machine shows what life is like in an industry that has been catastrophically disrupted--spurring innovation, competition, intense greed, and seductive new products.Going beyond music to discuss money, business, marketing, and technology, The Song Machine explores what the new hits may be doing to our brains and listening habits, especially as services like Spotify and Apple Music use streaming data to gather music into new genres invented by algorithms based on listener behavior.Fascinating, revelatory, and original, The Song Machine will change the way you listen to music. Seller Inventory # CIN1622319621G