Mental Floss 2015-10-06T16:37:58+00:00 2007-05-29T16:40:26+00:00
2007-05-28T16:40:42+00:00 Better rocking through science Randy
"Some people describe a hit song as a brain itch," reads the
corporate literature for the Music X-Ray, a new service that
mathematically analyzes songs for musicians and record labels
(for a fee, of course), to determine how statistically likely it
is that they'll be a hit -- and scratch that itch for the
masses. The way the X-Ray works is this: most hit songs
supposedly conform to a limited number of mathematical patterns
-- patterns so subtle that only a computer (and X-Ray's fancy
proprietary software) can detect and analyze them. The way it
works is this: you submit your song to the X-Ray, and you get
back a report that rates your song on a scale from Platinum
("Smash hit sound!") to Copper ("No hit"), and for a cool $100
you can even get a (theoretically less robotic) A&R executive's
opinion. A disclaimer on their website counsels that a low grade
doesn't mean your song doesn't