What Makes A Good Single

[musicthom]

With all this good info on here and some great members i was wondering what in your opinion makes a song a better candidate for being a single rather than an album track

I tend to beleive that in my own case i try to put as much effort into each song but some seem to stand out more as a more single type song rather than an album song whats your thoughts on ths guys

[Steve]

Interesting points. Have you tyried to apply this theory to your own songs?

[Steve]

I think it has more to do with big tits and scanty clothes myself!

[Alistair]

Unless you are desperate for a hit, trying to write a song according to the above is likely to sound very forced and predictable IMHO. Most of the top ten, most of the time, is garbage!

[Nightwolf]

Unless you are desperate for a hit, trying to write a song according to the above is likely to sound very forced and predictable IMHO. Most of the top ten, most of the time, is garbage!

I agree, the one that hit me was to pattern after current hits, do that and you will be late for the show, try to predict the next hit style and you're chasing your tail. Do what you believe in and maybe others will believe in you as well.

[Nightwolf]

Tom,

I knew we were preachin to the choir, don't take it as an attack, weese just ventin is all

looking for a proven product

ends up in the same*&T$%^$ getting regurgitated over and over again

oops I did it again

[Steve]

oops I did it again

Could be on to a hit with that title Wolf! All you need is a blond with scanty clothes and tits and you're on to a winner!

[Alistair]

Hey, Tunesmith, I wasn't shooting at anyone. I used 'you' as in 'one'.

[Carnival]

Just adding my penny-and-a-half to what you have covered.

Regarding what the labels are "lookinig for", we all agree they don't really have much of a clue. Produce something really special, and someone will give it a shot. Or if they don't you can prove it's appeal through independent marketing, and the labels will take notice. Remember, it doesn't take a concensus of the music industry to get something recorded, just one or two people who think you have something saleable.

I agree in part with your derision of the "hit single formula" concept, but I don't think the rules are completely without merit. What these rules say is that to grab the attention of the lay public, it helps to have certain identifiable benchmarks that seem to help a majority of casual listeners remember and like a song. It's difficult to understand and accept this for some musicians, because these people aren't appreciating what a musician appreciates, so you may feel like you are "writing down" to the public, but that is the wrong attitude.

Think of it this way. If you are an author who writes children's stories, you write to a level, with all the implied constraints, of what is identifiable and understood by children of a particular age group. The successful writer doesn't 'write down'. to the children, but rather celebrates the child's discovery in reading.

So it is with commercial songs. The rules spread over all popular genres, and seem to apply with some consistency. There are lots of hits that don't follow all of the rules, but most hits follow most of them. Remember, it isn't about listeners following arbitrary rules set down by record labele executives. It's record labels looking for music that has certain characteristics that the public has indicated, throught it's listening and buying habits, that it will accept. It's easier to get them to purblish/record/release songs that meet the criteria.

That doesn't make commercial songs better, just more saleable to the masses. So if you want the masses to celebrate your music . . . ya gotta write what they buy, or show them something better, by their own definition.

[roxhythe]

Well, when I consider "hit single" I have to take the record companies out of the calculation. They are apparently more interested in a formulaic rehashing of the *last* hit single--figuring if people bought it once, that's what they'll buy again. (And as Steve pointed out, Hooters Haven't Hurt.)

With my stuff, about all I've got to go on is what audiences seem to like. Based on that, I've probably got 5 or 6 (out of 50 or so) that are "hit single" material. They get played a lot simply because they get requested a lot. And I've put two of them up-front (in "hit single" position, as it were) on the last 2 CDs, because yes, I am going to lead from strength--people are more likely (my opinion) to buy a CD that shows that *I* know what *they*'re thinking.

As far as what makes those songs "hits," I really don't know. I think one of them is well-crafted technically, but the others aren't, really--one of them was literally dashed off. And I haven't noticed as audiences can really tell me, either.

And there isn't a pattern I can see that indicates a particular format results in a "hit single." Virtually all my songs are between 3-1/2 and 5 minutes, because that's the self-assigned "box" I like to work in; of the six "hits," one is under (if there's no lead break) and one is slightly over (if there is a lead break). Two of them have choruses with the same melody as the verses (so much for *that* rule), and not one has a bridge (ditto).

I guess if audiences could explain it, I'd know better. At this point, I just try to follow their lead. If they like it, I'll play it. If they request it a lot, it goes on the next CD--and if they request it a *whole* lot, it'll be in a prominent place on the CD. I just keep trying.

Joe

[ramadhaniyanto]

brilliant points there musicthom [smiley=quote.gif]

those are the essential points that i've come across also while elarning the ingredients for a hit song, plus this next one of course:

I think it has more to do with big tits and scanty clothes myself!

:worship2: :worship2:

ooh, that's definitely for sure!

Unless you are desperate for a hit, trying to write a song according to the above is likely to sound very forced and predictable IMHO. Most of the top ten, most of the time, is garbage!

I guess the bottom line for this type of stuff is that the industry is looking for a proven product to sink their investment into.

well said, tunesmith, i also have many friends that don't agree with the songs that are in the top 10 where i come from. i don't agree with the songs also, well some are but most are , waaayyy [smiley=plthumbsdown.gif] but then again, there the ones making millions, aren't they?

i suppose a good song isn'n necessarily a hit song, and vice versa