Finding the Rhythm

I think about a lot of things music, and much of it comes out in blog entries in one from or another. What’s it take to get a song on the Billboard charts? How do I deal with the flood of music I receive around here each week? Why do I like and play (and chart) so many songs that I never see anyone else playing? Why do I get tired of some songs in about a day, when others last for months?

A classic bell curve plot.

This morning it hit me. I think all of it can be explained with a classic bell curve, coupled with simple supply and demand. (For those bell curve challenged, picture the worst songs on the left, and the very best on the right.)

To be sure, there’s a lot of good music out there. I hear it every day, I play it, I get more of it all the time.

There’s also a lot of crap. I hear that every day too, I don’t play it, and I get more of it all the time.

The really, really good stuff is not that common. I’m lucky if I get one new track that I consider “really, really good”—let’s call it the top 5% of the material—every couple of weeks (if it’s that often).

In any case, a good 65% or more of the music flow being pretty listenable; the left-most 35% of the music probably isn’t. Regardless, some is better than others. But as the bell curve tells us, the bulk of the music is pretty average… In the middle of the curve.

There is a huge amount of supply, judging from the amount of music I get each week, and the amount I see showing-up on the various digital music stores. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of new songs each and every week. Month after month. (I’m talking only dance music here, by the way.) It’s more music than any one DJ can possibly digest. More than any radio programmer can deal with. And certainly way more than any music consumer can even know about, let alone sift through, let alone buy much of. With the proliferation of decent software for making electronic music, the barrier to entry is very, very low, adding to the supply.

Of course, the stuff on the extreme right side of the bell curve tends to get noticed… Stands out from the noise level in the background (literally). Looking back on my annual top charts, it’s songs like Matt Darey’s Beautiful Day and Filo & Peri’s Anthem. A little farther to the left on the curve, popular choices like Lady GaGa’s Poker Face. The good stuff; the better-than-average to outstanding tracks.

As I enter more deeply the world of production, obviously this sort of thing concerns me if I hope to get anyone’s attention with my music. But whether for myself, or anyone else with similar aspirations, one thing is really clear:  There’s a damned high bar, and you better put your game on, because the middle of the bell curve is a really crowded place.