The Secret Science of Pop

ChrisMusic

Intriguing program, just a heads up for anyone interested in this sort of thing...


The Secret Science of Pop

"Evolutionary biologist Professor Armand Leroi believes data science can transform the pop world. He gathers a team of scientists and researchers to analyse over 50 years of UK chart music. Can algorithms find the secret to pop success?

When the results are in, Armand teams up with hit producer Trevor Horn. Using machine-learning techniques, Armand and Trevor try to take a song by unsigned artist Nike Jemiyo and turn it into a potential chart-topper.

Armand also takes a scientific look at pop evolution. He hunts for the major revolutions in his historic chart data, looking for those artists who transformed the musical landscape. The outcomes are fascinating and surprising, though fans of the Fab Four may not be pleased with the results. As Armand puts it, the hallmark of The Beatles is 'average'.

Finally, by teaming up with BBC research and development, Armand finds out if his algorithms can discover the stars of the future. Can he predict which of thousands of demo tracks uploaded to BBC Introducing is most likely to be a hit without listening to a note?

This is a clash of science and culture and a unique experiment with no guarantee of success. How will the artists react to the scientist intruding on their turf? And will Armand succeed in finding a secret science of pop?"

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60 min program, available on iPlayer for 17 days, I'll let you do the maths !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08gk664/the-secret-science-of-pop

Evilmags

Really hot singer who can dance and a lot of marketing. 

mellowsun

Will have to check this out. A similar approach has been applied to predicting bestselling novels with very impressive results.

TheBlueWolf

Make decent music!

Simplez

57Deluxe

was a pile of tosh - nothing learned from the last time they did a prog on this about 25 years ago...

wave100

Well apparently the secret of success is to be as average as possible... who knew?

Unorthodox

That documentary was a polished turd. The amount they tried to jazz it up with visuals was ridiculous. Style over content.

All that aside, could machine learning churn out a decent song in the future? I reckon so.

ESBlonde

Unorthodox said:

That documentary was a polished turd. The amount they tried to jazz it up with visuals was ridiculous. Style over content.

All that aside, could machine learning churn out a decent song in the future? I reckon so.

That is pop music in a nutshell. There are exceptions though. The reason every thing fits average is because it sells, if it didn't sell (i.e. the hundreds of singles released each week that don't chart) it wouldn't influence average!

Sesh

A truly terrible and disappointing program! Just because you are applying scientific methods doesn't mean you are being scientific.

Reminded me of a series on years ago with Marcus du Sautoy, spouting bollocks about "The Code."

Ravenous

For anyone really interested in the detail one of the original papers is here by the way (couple of years old):

http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/5/150081