Contemporary Hit Radio thrives on short playlists. Of the 10-15 songs that dominate the airwaves at any given time the same small group of behind-the-scenes superstars are writing or co-writing the majority of the hits.
Super-producers like Max Martin and Dr. Luke have a choke hold on the pop charts.
New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook tells Steve Fast that these pop Svengalis are involved with most of the songs that are on the top of the charts.
“At any given time there are one or two,” says John Seabrook. With hits by Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and others, “They’re pretty much on the charts all the time.”
Seabrook writes about the age of computer-driven dance pop in his book “The Song Machine.”
The hit makers often develop backing tracks with throbbing dance beats that are then moved down a virtual assembly line long before a singer is brought into the process.
“Then you get a hook writer or melody writer to come in on top of that. And then you get a melody writer,” Seabrook says. “The producer can make thirty tracks at a time, send it out to thirty different melody writers over the computer — over the internet — and you get thirty songs pretty quickly.”
This process is a successful one. As of early 2015, Max Martin had a total of 54 songs reach the top ten charts.
Listen to the interview: John Seabrook on The Steve Fast Show
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