Reddit reviews The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory

If it were easy, everyone would do it.

I read this book a while ago which offered some pretty interesting insights into the business.

If you want to know more about the man, I highly recommend "The Song Machine". It's about Max Martin, Dr. Luke and all these other Swedish pop music producers.
From what I remember, Martin has a very broad musical background, and back when he worked in Sweden, was the go-to guy for all things music theory.

I can't however conclude from that whether he actively uses music theory when writing pop songs.

this book is super interesting in regards to his beginnings (esp. re: Denniz Pop) - Katy Perry era, it was a super fun & easy read too

i read an interesting book about those big pop stars:

https://www.amazon.com/Song-Machine-Inside-Hit-Factory/dp/0393241920

if you're interested in the machinations behind the music industry, it's a good read. (sadly, it doesn't go into the dark side that we can speculate at)

There's a very small number of people writing a ridiculously large number of America's pop songs, so what do you expect?

Here's an article talking about it, but the rabbit hole goes pretty deep.

The Song Machine talks more in depth about it (also mentioned in the article).

Glad to see Zen and the Art of Mixing on the list above, that one made it a lot easier to mix my own record.

On Composition, and the Industry I really enjoyed The Song Machine: Inside The Hit Factory by John Seabrook


On everything else, I guess an obvious reference point is the 33 1/3rd series. The best ones deal with everything, from composition through to post-production and marketing. My favourite was Michael Jackson's Dangerous by Susan Fast. That one covered huge ground, but unless you care about the music it might not be for you. It's probably best to just find a record you like from their list and start there!

Far away? Sweden is ground zero for pop music for the past 25+ years. Max Martin and his proteges have written tons of hits. Read Song Machine

Have you read The Song Machine yet? Quite a bit of detail in there.

It's either true or the writer of the book that's referenced has his facts wrong. The book, which I haven't read, is a best seller. http://www.amazon.com/The-Song-Machine-Inside-Factory/dp/0393241920

Not sure you read the comments you get for your rants. Because your last rant on Bollywood cinematography was full of logical fallacies and you got called out. Now the same mistake in this rant too.

>Moreoever, there is no concept of singer-songwriter in Bollywood. One guy writes the music, one guy writes the lyrics, and one guy sings.

Even in international music it is extremely rare that a single person creates lyrics, melody, harmony, arrangement, production etc. on his/her own. Record labels employ an army of professionals who do all of that. The record artist is only a pretty face that can be marketted.

Read this book for the detailed process that happens inside record labels: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Machine-Inside-Hit-Factory/dp/0393241920/

A writing credit in pop music usually means they changed a word to be given a writing credit. The record companies allow that because they know it makes their pop singers look more talented and it makes it look like the songs came from their hearts if they get a writing credit.

They typically have little to nothing to do with actually writing the song. The Atlantic did a big expose on this a few months ago ill look for it and edit it in.

Edit

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/hit-charade/403192/

And heres the book they reference in the article. The reality is several middle aged men write much of the songs we hear twenty year olds peform on the radio.

http://www.amazon.com/Song-Machine-Inside-Hit-Factory/dp/0393241920