When artists release an album, do they know what songs will become hits?

[manlymatt83]

I was thinking about this last week but forgot to post. Let's say an artist is releasing a new album of 10-13 songs. They know that some of them will become hits. Do they always know ahead of time which songs will be the hits, and which ones will be the ones everyone forgets about/no one listens to? And if so, do artists purposefully make "filler" songs to fill an album even though they know the songs aren't good?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I was thinking about this last week but forgot to post. Let's say an artist is releasing a new album of 10-13 songs. They know that some of them will become hits. Do they always know ahead of time which songs will be the hits, and which ones will be the ones everyone forgets about/no one listens to? And if so, do artists purposefully make "filler" songs to fill an album even though they know the songs aren't good?

While they definitely have opinions on what songs are better than others, they know that 'hits' have nothing do with any inherent quality.

 

[SKORPI0]

Not really, airplay on the radio could be one of the factors before a person will actually buy the album of that artist. If they are very popular/well known to make good music, people will get it B&M/order it online/stream/bootleg. Yes there will always be filler songs.

Artist might have that "one hit-wonder" and then be forgotten.

 

[feralkid]

There's an app that makes certain songs hits; it's called Payola.

 

[Craig234]

I've seen a lot of artists say they have no idea, and others say they knew they were making something great. I think it varies.

And I think that makes sense.

Listen to "Hotel California" and it's hard not to think it's going to be huge.

But there are a lot of songs that are best sellers I think would be hard to guess would be.

A song that regularly wins 'best rock song ever', Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin only thought of as a sort of unimportant tune - their own pick for their signature song is Kashmir as I recall.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Members in a band have favorites. Generally their biggest hits though are the songs they like the least (even before they have to play over and over it for the next 20 years). Many bands with actual musical talent like their musi

The record companies are who really 'pick' songs to release although I think in the last 10-15 years that has changed greatly. I remember many times the first song I heard on the radio from a band I really didn't like, but the 2nd song 6 months down the road I would like, etc. Now you get it all at once and the radio station corporation (note singular) picks what they will play in conjunction with record labels and listener requests. Many years ago as many here know, if it wasn't on MTV, it didn't get popular.

 

[Craig234]

One of the last, if not the last, radio hosts in the country who picks his own playlists 'artitiscally' is named Jim Ladd. He's pretty big with bands, he's been the inspiration for a song etc.

Tom Petty wrote 'The Last DJ' about him to criticize the radio industry. Clear Channel banned the song, and Cumulus bought Ladd's station and fired him (his show "Deep Tracks" is on Sirius now ).

The way the rest pick the songs is polling.

Phone call asks you to rate songs by whether you're 'tired' of hearing them or not.

 

[angminas]

Ever notice how the hits are frequently at the beginning of the album?

They don't always know everything, but if there's any hit material on the album, they usually have a pretty good idea what it is.

 

[SearchMaster]

Some do, some don't. Ed Sheeran was on Howard Stern recently and said he was absolutely horrible at picking the hit songs but his record company management always did a much better job.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The papers said Ed always played from the heart
He got an agent and a roadie named Bart
They made a record and it went in the chart
The sky was the limit
His leather jacket had chains that would jingle
They both met movie stars, partied and mingled
Their A&R man said, "I don't hear a single"
The future was wide open

(Tom Petty - "Into the Great Wide Open")

Wiki: Artists and repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. ....

The record companies pick the songs to push and payola for. Independent artists do the same when choosing the 1-2 songs to play for appearances on shows, podcasts, radio stations, etc. and which ones to make a YouTube video for.

But sometimes the listeners pick their own songs to make a surprise hit. Or at least they used to in ye olden times of vinyl and CDs.

And once in a blue moon a movie or TV show will decide to use a "deep cut" from an album and make it a hit that way. House M.D. using Massive Attack's "Teardrop" and Wild At Heart using Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" come to mind.

 

[Thump553]

One of the last, if not the last, radio hosts in the country who picks his own playlists 'artitiscally' is named Jim Ladd. He's pretty big with bands, he's been the inspiration for a song etc.

Tom Petty wrote 'The Last DJ' about him to criticize the radio industry. Clear Channel banned the song, and Cumulus bought Ladd's station and fired him (his show "Deep Tracks" is on Sirius now ).

The way the rest pick the songs is polling.

Phone call asks you to rate songs by whether you're 'tired' of hearing them or not.

There are still literally thousands of such DJs still active. They are on college/community radio stations. Many have a very small signal, but lots on them are also on the internet. Search on your dial befow?to the left of NPR.

It's been years since I've listened to commercial radio.

 

[Craig234]

There are still literally thousands of such DJs still active. They are on college/community radio stations. Many have a very small signal, but lots on them are also on the internet. Search on your dial befow?to the left of NPR.

It's been years since I've listened to commercial radio.

OK, he's the last 'major' such DJ.