{"product_id":"the-song-machine-inside-the-hit-factory","title":"The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory","description":"There's a reason hit songs offer guilty pleasure―they're designed that way.\nOver 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.\nIn 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.\nJourneying 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.\nGoing 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.\nFascinating, revelatory, and original, The Song Machine will change the way you listen to music. ---\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0393241920\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: DBV.0393241920.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Seabrook, John\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Gently used with minimal wear on the corners and cover. A few pages may contain light highlighting or writing, but the text remains fully legible. Dust jacket may be missing, and supplemental materials like CDs or codes may not be included. May be ex-library with library markings. Ships promptly!  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dream Books Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41538082046010,"sku":"DBV.0393241920.G","price":8.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/6011\/0138\/files\/0393241920-0.jpg?v=1784356075","url":"https:\/\/shop.dreambooksco.com\/products\/the-song-machine-inside-the-hit-factory","provider":"Dream Books Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}