The digital revolution has been televised. It is now widely accepted that digital distribution will become the preferred method of consuming music for the majority of people worldwide. The avenues of choice and consumption make it too appealing for music fans to ignore. Millions of music fans have already jumped in head-first with iPods, internet radio, file trading, online music videos and streaming from personalized community pages and websites. While the makeup of this digital landscape has been well documented, there has never been any detailed analysis to what this all means for the music creation process. Listening habits are changing drastically. The methods in which music gatekeepers can understand what music will become hits are rapidly growing deeper than ever before. The gatekeepers themselves are also changing. Jay Frank is one of those gatekeepers. As Head of Music Programming at Yahoo! Music and now as SVP of Music Strategy at CMT, he is on the forefront of the new methods of music consumption. He has been able to synthesize the feedback of millions of music fans weekly to identify, pick and promote future hit songs well before it touches the mainstream radar. What he has seen is that the elements of song writing and production that made hits yesterday are quickly losing ground and new techniques must be implemented for the #1 songs of tomorrow. Future Hit.DNA provides a road map to this digital landscape, outlining 15 points that must change in a song if the artists, songwriters and producers of tomorrow want a chart topping hit. For the first time, Future Hit.DNA actually dissects the elements to a hit song based on the technology that delivers the music. It shows how technology has always led the way hit songs are written from campfires to car stereos. The book provides the blueprint to the subtle changes that need to be made that result in little difference to music fans, but big differences in that song's placement on the charts. The new digital world also opens up many more opportunities for artists and songwriters to earn money on their music than ever before. While examining the methods for tomorrow's hits, Future Hit.DNA also shows how these changes can result in larger royalty checks. Songs can now earn more money than ever, as long as the creator knows the tricks. For the first time, Future Hit.DNA delivers inside tricks from both the music listener and music industry perspective. When utilized, these tips will result in significant advantages in those songs' abilities to become hits. This unprecedented insight will give its readers a leg up over the competition, thereby making the book an essential read for anyone involved in the creation of music.
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Jay Frank is the Owner and CEO of DigSin, a new singles-focused music company that allows subscribing fans to obtain music for free. DigSin signs new artists to deals that leverage new platforms, social networks and analytics that expose music to a wider audience, building popularity outside of traditional methods.
Frank is also the author of two books. His first book, Futurehit.DNA, is a #1 Songwriting book on Amazon and part of the college curriculum at a number of colleges and universities. The book explores how digital technology has changed the way people discover music and examines what an artist needs to make their song more hitworthy in the digital age. Frank's second book, Hack Your Hit, is a how-to guide for musicians filled with free and cheap marketing tips.
Prior to forming DigSin, Frank was the Senior Vice President of Music Strategy for CMT, an MTV Network. Under Frank's leadership, music video ratings reached all-time highs thanks to an aggressive multi-platform promotional strategy. Frank was also Vice President of Music Programming and Label Relations for Yahoo! Music, responsible for all the company's music programming. He was instrumental in the exponential growth of Yahoo's audience bringing in approximately 25 million people a month. He was also senior music director at The Box Music Network, worked in marketing and A&R for Ignition Records, managed a live music venue, programmed broadcast radio stations and created two local music video shows.
Frank holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY and sits on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Country Music, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Leadership Music. Frank also serves on the Tennessee Film, Entertainement and Music Commission, is a co-chair of Leadership Music Digital Summit, and is a consultant at FLO (Thinkery). A respected leader in the music and digital communities, Frank has spoken at such conferences as MIDEM, South By Southwest, Canadian Music Week, ASCAP Expo, MusExpo, Digital Music Forum, CMJ, SF Music Tech Summit, New Music Seminar and Mobile Entertainment Summit, among others.
Frank resides in Nashville with his wife and daughter.
FutureHit.DNA is the only book I know of that gives you marketing tips from a digital perspective written by a music industry insider that will enable you to make more MONEY!
For fans of Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell, this book is written in a simple, easy-to-digest manner and offers up great case studies. It will make you think differently about how songs should be structured or why certain songs stick in your head easier than others.
It's perfect for anyone passionate about music creation and music marketing. I market music online for a living and think everyone that works in the music business should read this.
The digital revolution has made music discovery harder. On any given week, 15,000 new songs can be released through legal digital channels. This book analyzes past and present trends and gives great insight into how people listen and consume music today.
For example, in the digital world all songs start at zero seconds. Most listeners will hit the skip button in the first 7 seconds if the song doesn't grab them. Did you know that songs must play for a minimum of sixty seconds to count as a play and generate royalty money?
After reading this book, you will want to make a list of all the tips you discover a for quick reference.
I really believe it will make you look at the song creation process differently and give you a leg up over the competition.
Frank certainly has the credentials to write this type of work and speak authoritatively. Many of the 15 factors he highlights seem perfectly reasonable. However, there seems to be little statistical data backing any of his theories up. He does attempt to support each factor with anecdotal evidence, but more often than not, he glosses over any potential countervailing trends or evidence with two appeals (i) that these trends will not manifest for 3-5 years or (ii) silence. Perhaps the book should be focused on identifying trends and themes that arose in pop music in the past, rather than attempting to plot future trends. As a predictive tool, the model holds minimal value. While there is certainly the need to balance creative expression with commercial appeal, its unclear how artists should actually proceed. Should they simply take Frank's advice and write longer songs with more chord changes, that will somehow appeal across traditional genres? If anything, this work could be more effective in combating the mindset of modern (corporate-owned) labels who have attempted to make hits more homogenous across a broad spectrum.
As a veteran of the business of music, I can safely say that Jay's book, 'FutureHit.DNA', is well thought-out, researched, and presented. If you're a fan of non-fluff books on the music business, e.g. Moses Avalon, then this is a great read. This is not one of those Do-It-Yourself to Fame & Fortune books with cute tips on 'blogging' and 'twittering'. The book does however offer educated and studied advice that is certainly applicable to artist, writers, publishers, labels, managers, etc . . . Jay makes some compelling arguments for truly knowing and understanding the new 'art and craft' of having a career in any genre of contemporary music.
