paultron: wildest dreams: Archive

“What you get in this Tumblr scene is imitators of imitators of imitators, each less skilled than the one before them” —The Tumblr Trap (via nevver)

Mar 28, 2012542 notes

Mar 28, 201220 notes

Mar 28, 20128,453 notes

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Mar 27, 20122 notes

#adventure time

“It’s not enough to have one hook anymore,” Jay Brown, the president of Roc Nation, and Dean’s manager, told me recently. “You’ve got to have a hook in the intro, a hook in the pre-chorus, a hook in the chorus, and a hook in the bridge.” The reason, he explained, is that “people on average give a song seven seconds on the radio before they change the channel, and you got to hook them.” —

This is from this really interesting articlethat explains how a lot of your top 40 radio hit sausage is made. There’s also this: “Around Roc the Mic, writing songs for any reason other than making hits is a waste of time.”

Now, my question to any pop-friendly, anti-rockist music writers on here would be how is this any better, or conceptually different from, like, SEO or link aggregator sites like HuffPo or Buzzfeed?

Or, conversely, explain to me why SEO or aggregator sites are really cool and make the Internet a totally better place.

(via erikonymous)

I’d say the easy answer is that a song (particularly the non-lyrical parts) is not a blog post. Blog posts are made out of words instead of chord progressions, melodies, and harmonies. It’s a bit different than trying to find a way to work Christina Hendricks boobs into your post, because copy/paste can have far more expensive results when you’re talking about a song. You could get a computer to do SEO, but hooks are different animals. Also, songwriting is a skill, not necessarily an outcome of inspiration. Like drawing or sculpture, it can be practiced and improved. So I don’t see what’s wrong with trying to write a hit. It’s no stranger a goal than write a hortatory essay, paint a landscape.

(via lastbutnotleast)

For the record (yuk, yuk), I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with trying to write a hit. Hell, I write music myself, and I’d really like for one of my songs to make me a lot of money someday. But I feel that the context matters, particularly here. Music is an art form, sure. But songwriting can rightly be considered a craft, a skill that can be acquired and honed. I would argue that writing a super SEO-baity headline or article is every bit a skill, one which can get you hired or fired in our current marketplace. Furthermore, music theory (with which I’ll be the first to admit only a passing familiarity) shows that people interpret that very mess of chord progressions, melodies, and harmonies not only instinctively, but consistently. Major chords and keys make us feel happy, even triumphant. Minor keys make us dolorous, introspective. There are very few pop hits written in minor keys! It goes even further, such that we instinctively associate certain keys with occidental/oriental cultural traditions. Music is inarguably an art, but some songwriters have it down to a science.

(via erikonymous)

This is from this really interesting articlethat explains how a lot of your top 40 radio hit sausage is made. There’s also this: “Around Roc the Mic, writing songs for any reason other than making hits is a waste of time.”

Now, my question to any pop-friendly, anti-rockist music writers on here would be how is this any better, or conceptually different from, like, SEO or link aggregator sites like HuffPo or Buzzfeed?

Or, conversely, explain to me why SEO or aggregator sites are really cool and make the Internet a totally better place.

(via erikonymous)

I’d say the easy answer is that a song (particularly the non-lyrical parts) is not a blog post. Blog posts are made out of words instead of chord progressions, melodies, and harmonies. It’s a bit different than trying to find a way to work Christina Hendricks boobs into your post, because copy/paste can have far more expensive results when you’re talking about a song. You could get a computer to do SEO, but hooks are different animals. Also, songwriting is a skill, not necessarily an outcome of inspiration. Like drawing or sculpture, it can be practiced and improved. So I don’t see what’s wrong with trying to write a hit. It’s no stranger a goal than write a hortatory essay, paint a landscape.

(via lastbutnotleast)

For the record (yuk, yuk), I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with trying to write a hit. Hell, I write music myself, and I’d really like for one of my songs to make me a lot of money someday. But I feel that the context matters, particularly here. Music is an art form, sure. But songwriting can rightly be considered a craft, a skill that can be acquired and honed. I would argue that writing a super SEO-baity headline or article is every bit a skill, one which can get you hired or fired in our current marketplace. Furthermore, music theory (with which I’ll be the first to admit only a passing familiarity) shows that people interpret that very mess of chord progressions, melodies, and harmonies not only instinctively, but consistently. Major chords and keys make us feel happy, even triumphant. Minor keys make us dolorous, introspective. There are very few pop hits written in minor keys! It goes even further, such that we instinctively associate certain keys with occidental/oriental cultural traditions. Music is inarguably an art, but some songwriters have it down to a science.

(via erikonymous)

Dude, really? No hits in minor keys?

Rolling in the Deep

House of the Rising Sun

Eleanor Rigby

Stairway to Heaven

Losing My Religion

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Space Oddity

It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World

Never Gonna Give You Up