Michael Gladwell (author of the 'Tipping point' amongst others) recently wrote an article in the New Yorker in which he mentions Platinum Blue. And since I've been wanting to post about them for a little while, here it is !
Platinum Blue claim that by analysing the mathematical patterns in any piece of music (such as melody, harmony, tempo, octave, picth and so on) they can predict its chance of success with an 80% accuracy. In short, their computer model calculates a Hit Grade where anything above 700 is exceptional: it gave for instance a score of 755 to Gnarl Barkley's Crazy which turned out to be the success everybody knows.
It's not hard to see how such a service could appeal to record company executives. But I'm also quite tempted to send in a couple of songs to check if they have any kind of 'hit potential'. Watch out for the results.
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