The Music Industry Is Literally Brainwashing You to Like Bad Pop Songs

[SecularMotion]

Last summer it was "Blurred Lines." This summer it's "Fancy." Every year, there's a new song that we all hate until we don't anymore (see: playcounts). And it turns out that's because we were brainwashed to like them.

Research suggests that repeated exposure is a much more surefire way of getting the general public to like a song than writing one that suits their taste. Based on an fMRI study in 2011, we now know that the emotional centers of the brain — including the reward centers — are more active when people hear songs they've been played before. In fact, those brain areas are more active even than when people hear unfamiliar songs that are far better fits with their musical taste.

This happens more often than you might think. After a couple dozen unintentional listens, many of us may find ourselves changing our initial opinions about a song — eventually admitting that, really, Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" isn't as awful as it sounds. PBS' Idea Channel's Mike Rugnetta explains, it's akin to a musical "Stockholm syndrome," a term used originally by criminologist Nils Bejerot to describe a phenomenon in which victims of kidnapping may begin to sympathize with their captors over time.

Most people assume that they hear a song everywhere because it's popular. That's not the case — a song is popular because it's played everywhere. It is technically illegal for major labels to pay radio stations directly to play certain songs, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. The phenomenon is called "payola" (an amalgam of the words pay and Victrola), and it was rampant in the 1960s up through the '80s, during which period the music industry was literally run by the mob. It still happens today, even though it isn't as blatant. Labels pay independent promoters to "incentivize" radio stations to play their music, or create program caps to make sure a song gets enough plays to have its effect. There's real neuroscience behind the strategy: If you hear something enough, you'll start to like it.

http://mic.com/articles/95260/the-music-industry-is-literally-brainwashing-you-to-like-bad-pop-songs-here-s-how

[trumad]

1. Grew up in the seventies...

All that acid made me brainwashing proof..... So basically my music taste ended in the seventies--- errr the greatest music generation ever!

[brewens]

7. Even back in the 70's I was aware of the repitition effect on me. Many times songs on a new album

too awhile to grow on me. That was mosty what we call classic rock now. I was always one to listen to entire albums, at least by the time I was in high school.

That was one reason why many times when going to a cncert, I made sure and get the new album the band was promoting. I knew I would appreciate hearing all the new stuff more that way, not just what they currently had in the top 40.

One thing that is unfortunately far too rare from our old bands is when they have cut newer stuff in later years, it's usually not much good. You can't really expect them to come up with stuff like they did when they were kids just getting started. One exception was that Allman Brothers Band CD, "Where it All Began". That was from 1994 and in my book, as good as anything they ever did. I probably listen to that the most off all their stuff I have still.

I think The Eagles did a good job on that double CD they put out a few years back. I was never a huge fan of them but I can't find anything wrong with that one. I think it would have been huge had they put the exact same thing out in the late 70's. Examples of real quality recent work by the old-timers are pretty rare.

[RobinA]

27. I Had The Opposite

reaction. Repetition of a song I hated only made me hate it more. Repetition of a song I liked made me not like it so much. It's why I can't listen to classic rock unless it's deep tracks or something. I LOVE Maggie May, but every time I hear it now I want to gouge my ears out. Enough already. I pretty much switched from rock to folk and classical because I just can't keep listening to the same stuff for 40 years.

The only music I never get sick of is Michael Jackson. Go figure. I was a hard rock fan.

[underpants]

52. Me too

Boston and AC/DC -- change the channel. Sorry heard it waaaay to many times.

[Freddie]

37. I'm with you on this one

If I'm going to see an artist I really like I try to be familiar with most of their stuff so I can appreciate it more live. You can now get set lists online.
Then there's Elvis Costello, who never does the same set twice...last fall I downloaded about 10 of his albums and still didn't know half the stuff he did in concert (but loved it anyway). What an amazing (and prolific!) songwriter.

[Ilsa]

63. I'll go with 1968 (roughly) to 78 as my favorite

Ten years.

[aikoaiko]

2. I'm a sucker for summer pop songs

[kcr]

13. I do't think we had a song like last year, though.

I had never heard Fancy before clicking on the video you posted. But I remember hearing Lucky and Blurred lines all the time last year

[aikoaiko]

16. I think Get Lucky and Blurred were the summer pop songs of 2013.

[kcr]

19. Yes and I heard them all the time

I haven't heard Fancy. I wodner if it's because it isn't as broad in its appeal so mix stations don't play it

[one_voice]

34. I do too....

I can hear a summer song from 10 years ago and it brings back all the memories of that summer/year.

[el_bryanto]

3. I haven't listened to the radio regularly since the early 2000s

I guess you do hear music in restaurants and the like, but I never pay it any attention, unless they play a song I already like. I guess the last song I got from a commercial was "So Groovy" by Jocelyn Alice and Right the Stars which was in a Target Commercial.

I liked it anyway.

I have experienced this though - particularly when you get music from a band you are supposed to like or a well respected album by a group you like - on first listen you think it's not good, but you give it a few more listens and come around to it. That works sometimes - I didn't like Psychedelic Furs the first few times i heard them, but now they are on of my favorite bands. And sometimes it doesn't - while I quite like a lot of the Cure catalog I still can't get into Pornography. Turgid and annoying.

Bryant

[randome]

4. Really, who listens to radio anymore?

If you listen to streams that depend on commercial music, you will hear nothing but commercial music. Duh.

I know what you mean about not paying attention to stuff that's forced on you. Whether it's music in a store or ads on a web page, I think we're all becoming more adept at automatically filtering stuff out. (Let's not tell the corporations, though.)
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. People in cars. nt

[randome]

11. Not really necessary if you have an iPod or something similar.

Even if you have an older car with a cassette player, you can buy one of those cassette converters to plug into your music device of choice. No cassette player? Use your headphones. I guess not everyone has a music device, though. Still, I'd rather carry a bag of CDs and/or cassettes with me than listen to endless blather on the radio.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[tabbycat31]

39. It's not advised to wear headphones while driving

It is legal in most states, but groups like AAA advise against it.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/04/wearing-headphones-while-driving-legal-in-most-states.html

I have an older car and play my iPod through my tape adapter, until the thing broke (I have to make it to Five Below to get another one). I never realized how much I miss the iPod.

[Electric Monk]

58. Most newer cars stereos have usb connections, or a mini-plug input at least.

Often you don't even need an iPod, just any old thumb drive will do.

[tabbycat31]

62. I don't think USB was around when my car was new

So I've honestly got no clue what newer cars have (mine's a 1999).

[cherokeeprogressive]

48. People in cars who don't have Pandora?

My smartphone and iPod both play through my car stereo. I don't even CALL it a radio any more. Even out on the road I listen to XM. No one tells me what to listen to, much less brainwashes me.

[kentauros]

20. I listen to somafm.com

That's either at home or at work (when they allow streaming.) Otherwise, I use my Z2, or no music at all. When driving, I always use my Z2.

Alternately, I'll listen to noise. On purpose

[Initech]

22. I don't listen to the radio either anymore.

I can't stand sports talk, all the regular talk radio around here is conservative garbage (we lost the only real liberal station many years ago), and I don't listen to any FM stations except for KROQ. It's pretty much whatever albums I feel like listening to on my ipod.

I have a strict no talk radio policy in my car - and it's kept me from going insane.

[underpants]

5. It's popular because.....it's popular

Good article.

In sales presenting a product 16 times shoots the probability that you will buy it through the roof. Given a person's TV viewing habits ad time is bought to get it in front of you 16 times in a day. Time shares get you in a room for hours and accomplish the same thing.

A good example of what the article points out is Eddie Murphy's &quot my girl) Party all the time". The story goes that during an interview Eddie bet the MTv producers that he could make a #1 record in a week or two. It was a minimal bet but he wanted to show how he could manipulate the public. He and RICK JAMES B*|CH!! went into a study and made a generic party song. With Eddie's name on it and specific air times (AM, lunch, just after school, and at 8 PM or so) he did just that. #1 song on the charts. That is the story anyway.

[Populist_Prole]

50. I hate that dynamic

It doesn't just apply to music; far from it. It applies so much to pop-culture in general, or even politics. Basically they're trying to create a zeitgeist rather than just let it evolve. The MSM is terrible about this. It's like "we're reporting this because people are talking about it....because we're reporting it" they're priming their own BS pump.

[underpants]

51. Celebrities

In the 70's my brother and I used to see people on TV (games shows or Carson) and we could never figure out why this person was famous .... Other than for being famous. What do they DO?!?! Was our normal question.

We seem to have returned to that (if we ever really left it) with "Internet celebrities" and reality show celebrities. I read just last wee about some guy on SnapChat who just applies amateur looking graphics (literally like finger painting) onto goofy pictures of himself. He is now being paid $30-50 K from corporations to blatantly promote them.

[L0oniX]

6. Music industry ...minus the art and skill.

[HooptieWagon]

8. There used to be some brilliant pop music writers...

Lennon/McCartney, Simon/Garfunkle, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Motown (and Stevie Wonder in particular).... just to name a few. Now there's just utter crap. I no longer listen to commercial radio, only the fantastic local community radio station.

[kentauros]

29. You could always listen to pop music from other countries.

That way, if you can't understand the language, you have no idea if the music is crap, other than whether you like the sound of the music

Here's a couple of such stations:

Radio ListenArabic

Jamendo

[DetlefK]

10. A simple trick how to mix a song to make it "sound" good:

People like a song when it's loud. What do songs sound like when they are played really loud? All the parts like vocals, electric guitar, drums... have the same volume, because each speaker is at its maximum.

Just take note next time you hear a pop-song: How could the singer possibly be as loud as the guy shredding the guitar in the background? This would never work in a live-performance. And even though it's totally unrealistic, it somehow sounds good.

Examples:
Lift me up / Moby
Narcotic / Liquido
Don't let me get me / Pink

[jmowreader]

41. It needs to be that way for earbuds and Bose Lifestyle speakers

Tiny speakers have no dynamic range. The only way to hear the whole song is to compress the shit out of it.

[IDemo]

12. Home and work: Pandora, on the road: wind noise on helmet

The few times I have stopped at a pop station in channel surfing during my 4-wheeled drives, I've had the distinct impression that every single pop song is in fact one and the same, with different lyrics. Frenetic non-varying back beat, matched with frenetic non-varying vocals. Utterly uninteresting and predictable.

[frazzled]

14. Oh, for silly

There's always been bad pop music and then, other music.

So wind back to 1965. The most popular song of that year was Sam the Sham and the Pharoah's Woolly Bully. 12 bars with costumes.
1965 was also the release of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme (as well as Don Cherry's first release on Blue Note).

You always had the choice. Or, surprise, surprise ... you could listen to and appreciate both silly pop, in which a Mexican-American guy dresses up in Egyptian robe and turban and sings about his cat (very danceable!), or you could groove to a brilliant melding of hard bop and free jazz. Your choice. No one "brainwashes" anyone.

[Romulox]

15. I kind of like "Fancy", though. A guilty pleasure to be sure!

Still stuntin' how ya luv dat?

[Initech]

47. That's why I love Weird Al.

When he makes a parody of a song, he really goes all out. I love what he did with mindless pop flare like "Blurred Lines" ("Word Crimes&quot , "Happy" ("Tacky&quot , etc.

[Tracer]

17. It can work the opposite way too.

Hear a song you hate --- and then keep hearing it over and over (due to a family member's love for it).

And I'm talking about "Hold On" by Alabama Shakes. If I never again hear that groaning cow moaning "hold on, hold on", I'll be happy.

[Generic Other]

18. A question

How many find that they have little or no exposure to pop music in their daily lives? I choose the music I listen to online. Back in the day, radio programmers did that. Now, I choose. And I mostly listen to oldies on the internet. I am decades behind the contemporary scene. Unless someone twerks and farts in my face while singing a song on national tv and it makes the news, I probably will never hear it, and then I will only hear it that one time. I listen to indie music mostly. I am always looking for free music to download, so I give musicians a chance who the recording companies ignore. I also want to use music in my videos, so I try and find creative commons music, maybe save the music of other eras by revisiting it and recording it myself. I don't need corporate America to dictate my tastes or put a price on my ability to appreciate music. Who needs them? I have not felt like I missed anything for some time. Clearly, I am not the target demographic.

I wonder if I am alone?

[Lex]

23. I listen to my iPod or if in the car, I listen to Sirius, usually MSNBC or

songs I liked in my own teens/twenties. I never listen to current pop stations. My niece and nephew who are 18 and 19 never listen to the radio--iPod or music on their laptops.

[LeftyMom]

32. I'll hear people praising/bitching about a song for months

and have no idea what they're talking about until my loud, tasteless neighbor has a party. Then I'll have the dawning realization "oh, is this the ghastly peice of crap I kept hearing about?"

[Skidmore]

36. Hehe...reminds me when I lived in an apartment

building and Sinead O'Conner was first popular. My downstairs neighbor played "Nothing Compares To You" in a loop endlessly during waking hours for literally weeks. I hate that song with a burning passion because of that torturous period of that hot summer.

[LeftyMom]

40. My neighbor had a party Saturday.

First song was "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash, so I was thinking the loud music might not be the worst thing ever? Nope, from then on it was four fucking hours of "new country" songs that all sound the same- terrible.

Then again these are the same people who got a live band for a party that apparently only knew a few songs. Naturally one of them was "Freebird."

[Skidmore]

42. I detest new country.

It is really pop music sung with a twang. We had a neighbor at our old house who used to sit out on a lawn chaise on summer weekends and play "Free falling" all the time. My husband didn't want to mix it up with him over volume because he was one of those guys who used a Confederate flag for a curtain.

[arcane1]

45. I've never heard any of the songs in the OP.

And apparently that's a good thing

I tend to buy very little new music, just a few things per year, that I discover almost randomly. I can't stand the radio.

[Lex]

21. Wonder how many people still listen to pop music on the radio?

I would think that number is pretty small these days.

[Xyzse]

24. I think I completely agree.

I still don't like any Katy Perry songs.
Friday Night, Unconditionally, and Birthday are all extremely awful songs in my regard, and I change the station as soon as it goes on.

Ditto with:
Maps - Maroon 5
Say Something - A Great Big World - Thank goodness they stopped playing this dreck.

Katy Perry is plain ridiculous, and I am amazed at how popular she has become through continuous play-through.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

25. Oh come on! "You know you want it...."

.

[kentauros]

26. This is partly why I stopped listening to commercial stations in 1977.

Public radio had (and still has) far more to offer than commercial radio ever will. Plus, the non-professional DJs (of whose ranks I was among at one time) are more fun to listen to than your average "beautiful voice" commercial hosts.

Think about it, though. Commercial music is an industry. Of course they are going to use every trick they can to get more people to buy more music, no matter what the quality. "Quality" doesn't make you wealthy; "quantity" does.

[KT2000]

28. this must explain Avicii

nothing but repetition in his songs. Unbelievable how he is the hot new thing. It is a bad sign.

[Orrex]

30. Breaking news: decades-old marketing tactic is still in use!

Film at 11:00.

[snooper2]

31. I know, for example, this one pop song has over 124 MILLION views on YouTube!

[Shadowflash]

33. Doesn't work on everybody!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202484694506062

[LittleBlue]

35. Fancy is catchy

I can see why it got so popular. It's a song where you hear it 5 times and suddenly you're mouthing the refrain.

[otohara]

38. Not Anymore

I worked in both radio and recording industry.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to pick out a hit song.

The radio conglomerates have programming consultants who focus group songs to death. If it tests well, it stays, not, off it goes into lunar rotation. Every time I hear that tired old one hit from Edie Brickell on the Boulder station
KBCO where I worked, I know it's still testing well. Ugh - why????

Most marketing dollars now are spent on touring because people aren't buying music.
Every artist hits the road when a new release comes out.

If the station and label come up with a promotion worth spending some bucks on, it's minimal. Twelve
60 seconds spots is all you get or tickets to give away.

Back in the 70's/80's there was money flying around and program directors had more freedom and labels
had plenty of cocaine and incentives. This isn't the case anymore - PD's are on the phone with the consultants and do what they're told.

[J_J_]

43. music was important for the social movement of the 60's

wouldn't want any real artist to interfere with any more wars or anything

[kelliekat44]

44. Melodies we could remember, words we could understand and rhythm we could dance to while holding

each other...and getting hot instead of heated. Made you feel like making peace or love and not war.

[GeorgeGist]

46. Literal brain washing.

[cui bono]

49. Happy to report that I do not know "Blurred Lines" or "Fancy" and had not heard

"Call Me Maybe" until my friends told me about the mashups and insisted that I had to have heard the song before.

I love music but I do not listen to top 40 pop music. When I listen to terrestrial radio for music it's a college station that doesn't play that stuff or in the last month it's been classic rock (which now includes music from the 90s!). Mostly I listen to indie stuff I already have or know about or is recommended to me based on my interests.

As to "payola", that law applies to terrestrial radio, but has it been updated for the digital age? Perhaps, perhaps not? You can pay to have internet searches turn up your content more often, why not to get "random" playing of certain songs on internet stations like Pandora?

[oberliner]

59. Same here

Never heard either song as far as I know.

[derby378]

53. Mixcloud is your friend - step this way, ladies and gentlemen...

Allow me to offer you at least some respite from the same ol' same ol'. You'll be glad you did.

http://www.mixcloud.com/derby378/

And check out MrScorpio's offerings as well:

http://www.mixcloud.com/Mr_Scorpio/

[Warren DeMontague]

56. Or the live music archive at archive.org

[Silent3]

54. Leveraging the fact that lots of things can grow on you hardly constitutes "brainwashing".

And it's certainly not going to work in all cases. Many attempts at promotion fail miserably. A song is going to have to be at least within the ballpark of the kinds of music people enjoy before they give it a chance to grow on them -- otherwise each repetition will simply produce growing annoyance, not fondness.

What's left to say than the not-so-surprising, ho-hum conclusion "promotion can work"? Sorry if that's not quite so dramatic as "THEYRE BRANEWAHSING US1!!!!1!"

Further apologies to those who'd like to believe that the general public would, by nature, have much more discerning tastes than they demonstrate -- were it not for those meddling media moguls messing things up.

[Warren DeMontague]

55. I miss Lawrence Welk

The bubbles! Now, that was a class act.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

57. I'd love to read this, but I have a sudden craving to listen to "One Direction"

[tanyev]

60. I usually don't hear any of those songs until they get covered on Glee

or they make some hapless C-lister try to do a ballroom dance to one on Dancing With the Stars.

[wyldwolf]

61. when does the author suppose this started?

Sounds like just another pretentious music critic who doesn't understand today's music, thinks that if the great unwashed likes it, it can't be any damn good and is essentially telling the kids to get off his lawn.

If he'd done a bit of research, he'd know the high repetition of pop songs began in 1951 when a radio station owner and DJ noticed kids playing the same songs over and over again on a jukebox.

I guess when he grew out of pop music, he thought the reason was the music changed. But in reality he aged out of the demographic.

So here's my long distance dedication to Tom Barnes.

[hfojvt]

65. I don't listen to the radio

and I am not sure I believe it.

I have an ipod that I listen to at work. It only plays on "random play".

I noticed a couple of things.

1. it seems to play the same songs over and over again. In spite of having something like 1,000 songs on it, I was hearing the same songs day after day - mind you, these were songs that I already LIKED.

What happened when I started hearing them every day? Did I like them MORE? No, in fact, I quickly got sick of them. Especially because of the 2nd point.

2. it seems like it was somehow programmed to select a certain type of music - it leaned, for lack of a better word, on the mellow side. Again, this got old fast. I mean, I love a good ballad and have plenty of mellow songs that I like, but after the 4th mellow song in a row I wanted to frigging scream.

Finally I went through and removed about 30 or 40 mellow songs that it was "randomly" playing the hell out of. And I keep thinning it out as it still seems to want to lean towards mellow.

I mean I would not mind hearing a few mellow songs now and then and the same song once every couple of weeks but not every day. So "like a rock" is gone. "Katmandu" can stay although it seems it will never be selected.

[Liberal_from_va34]

66. This is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while

I can't stand most pop music produced these days, but come on, nobody's forcing you to like that stuff. Just turn off the radio, problem solved.