I was in my car this afternoon, listening to NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow. His guest, Mike McCready, CEO of Platinum Blue was describing the software they’ve developed which can (with surprising accuracy) analyze mutlidimensional patterns in a particular song and compare that pattern to other songs that have been hits and help to determine if the song has what it takes to be a hit. The justification for the software being that the entrenched music industry needs to know upfront whether a single has sufficient chance of being a hit before a record company is going to put millions into marketing said song. Curious. Here’s a blurb from the Platinum Blue website:

Shining light on the Next Generation Music Industry

By providing technology services that help people see music and the music market in a completely new way, Platinum Blue is helping the entire music industry to optimize both the supply and the demand sides of the music chain. Improved decision making for the supply side and the most intuitive search, discovery and recommendation tool for the demand side. Platinum Blue is a cornerstone to the next generation music industry.

Sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? “Supply and demand sides of the chain.” What the hell are they thinking? It’s interesting that they can develop a pattern analysis tool to predict the market’s predisposition to purchase a particular piece of music, but music and poetry can’t be reduced to mere marketability. (Unless you’re the RIAA.)

Thank god there are still artists in the world who make music inspired by soulful reflection, wrought of human experience. Many can be found just around the corner at our humble little website…