Who picks the hits?

Have you seen this article? Scientific American: "Hit" Songs Unpredictable, Thanks to Peer Pressure? I had a chance to catch up with the one of the authors - Dr. Peter Dobbs - for our Relating audio magazine. This is an amazing study with a fascinating outcome. People who were able to see what other people rated or downloaded actually tended to vote for the group instead of going with something completely different. Interestingly, there were songs that were rated the highest in one group, and the absolute lowest in another. Dr. Dobbs did say, however, that the awful songs were rated as awful, so something that's awful doesn't get to be fabulous. He felt that the key was to make interesting, quality products and ideas and keep putting them out there for people to listen, read and participate. He felt that over time, they would eventually hit. He mentioned that Harry Potter was turned down by 8 publishers before it was published. Interesting eh?

(The Relating Audio Magazine should be out mid-week next week!)

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