Page 46 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

FORMULAIC ANALYSIS

top forty radio station in Manhattan, as well as a music programmer at
the equally powerful WMCA. The next morning, both called Columbia
Records and demanded a copy of the recording.
Significantly, the marketing people prevailed in this dispute; the song
was cut in half. The label on side one read, “Like a Rolling Stone (Part
1). Timing 3:02,” and side two read, “Part 2. Timing 3:02.” But some
D.J.s simply recorded both sides of the disc on a tape and spliced the
whole thing together as a single. 5

Evolution of Formula
Every genre is characterized by its own distinctive formula. That is, for
each genre the formulaic elements are constellated in a constant, identifi-
able fashion. Thus, the plotlines, structure, and characters that appear in
a soap opera are distinguishable from how these formulaic elements are
found in the evening news.
Once identified, a careful analysis of these formulaic elements can
predict the success of media presentations. Software programs such
as Hit Song Science forecast, with mathematical precision, whether a
song is going to be a top 40 hit. The Hit Song Science program uses
mathematical algorithms to identify the shared formulaic elements of
hit songs. Reporter Clive Thompson observes:

At the heart of the program is a “clustering” algorithm that locates acoustic
similarities between songs, like common bits of rhythm, harmonies or keys.
The software takes a new tune and compares it with the mathematical signa-
tures of the last 30 years of Top 40 hits. The closer the song is to “a hit cluster,”
the more likely—in theory—that the kids won’t be able to resist it. 6

Record companies have begun to use Hit Song Science in the stu-
dio. Producers take a rough mix of a new song and tweak it until it has
“good mathematics,” giving it a good chance to be a hit. Polyphonic
HMI used this software to predict that Nora Jones’s “Come Away
with Me” would be a success. A few months later, Jones’s album went
multi-platinum. The evolution of a genric formula generally falls into
three distinct stages.

Formative Stage
In the early phase of a genre, the formula and conventions that come to
characterize a genre have yet to be clearly defined. As a result, this stage

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