] A computer program is changing the face of the music
] business by allowing record labels to predict a hit at
] the click of a mouse. Is this the death of pop as we know
] it, asks Jo Tatchell, or a new hope for unsigned bands
] everywhere?

Hit Song Science, ripping the soul out of a type of critical listening that's existed since the dawn of baroque music. Lovely. More product development then artist development..

[ This was and is inevitable. I'm all for it, for the following reason. As highly commercial music begins to sound more and more the same, the very need to create market differentiation will lead back to fragmentation. There will eventually be a backlash, and in the meantime, I really do think that technology will eventually be able to improve the plight of the unknown artist. When word of mouth can spread everywhere, instantly, the potential is there. Local buzz becomes international buzz. The framework for reputation and collaboration is in it's infancy, but it'll come. That should be more than enough to maintain the community of actual music lovers, and I think it'll grow it, in fact. Maybe not to the point where it eclipses the shiny package market tunes, but the dream is there. -k]

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