You know when you’re watching TV and that commercial comes on that features a jingle that subsequently gets stuck in your head? If not, you’re lucky. There are three companies that currently hold the Top 3 spots in the jingle-specific part of my brain. Two are for American companies and one for a Canadian one, so that means that few people will relate to all three. Here they are:

1. Living Spaces

Wait until the end to hear the part that really sticks.

2. El Pollo Loco

Although this is a fake commercial (and a pretty good one), the ending features the catchy-as-heck-jingle part.

3. Harvey’s

This one wins, seeing as how I wouldn’t have seen it in about 6 months and it STILL creeped into my head. Harvey’s DOES make my hamburger a beautiful thing.

In the past 5 years I have probably purchased about 5 CD’s that were not on sale or used . A couple weren’t even for me. I have never purchased an mp3 from iTunes or any other such service. In fact, I just signed up for an iTunes account today so I could get album artwork. Most days I tend to listen to music online, from Shoutcast, iMeem, Pandora, Grooveshark and the likes. Are we moving away from owning the songs we listen to?

Zune Pass

The Zune Pass (from Microsoft) allows users to pay $14.99 and download as much music as they want, and to keep 10 of those songs. The rest can be used as long as the monthly subscription is paid for. $14.99 is about the cost of a new CD, if I’m not mistaken. Sure, at $1.50 per purchased song it’s more expensive than most songs on iTunes but this allows the downloading of a plethora of music, that can be listened to on a computer or mp3 player. Is there a need to possess songs? Overall, this isn’t a bad idea.

Lala

For people who don’t mind their music collection being in the cloud, there’s Lala.com. For a mere 10 cents users can buy the listening rights to a song, and for 79 cents more they can own the mp3. In addition, all the mp3’s users DO own can be matched with the site’s catalogue, to allow the listening of those songs from Lala’s interface. Users can listen to songs and albums ONE time, before deciding if they want to buy. Check out some CD’s I uploaded and can now access online (if nothing shows up below, I have most likely stopped using Lala):

To make matters even sweeter, Lala will soon be releasing an iPhone app that will connect users to their online music library. Uh oh! An iPhone app that could make iTunes a much less attractive option for many people.

imeem, Pandora, Grooveshark

While imeem also allows users to upload mp3’s, the process is far less user-friendly and convenient than Lala’s. Unlike many other music streaming sites, however, imeem lets users select specific songs and rewind/fast forward. Although Pandora does a great job of predicting music I’ll enjoy, the inability to CHOOSE my songs gets annoying. Grooveshark (and its recently updated interface) really does have pretty much any song available. Contrary to Pandora, it allows for rewinding/fast forwarding and also lets users upload songs. When I tried to do so, however, the applet didn’t recognize my external hard drive. Fail. Each site definitely has its uses, though.

Recording Streaming Radio

While I can not condone nor encourage the recording of streaming radio stations, there are ways to do so. Streamripper, Snowtape and Replay Media Catcher are options that exist, for example. This ability, coupled with the options that let users listen to music for free online (now made easier by Google’s new music search function) very well could lead to the death and destruction of the mp3. I think a healthy dose of both makes sense. In the end, there may be enough people on both sides of the aisle to make the online vs mp3 debate a moot point. I’ll personally take advantage of any and all options that let me hear music convenently.

That Lil Wayne is SO talented...and handsome! Don't you agree, honey?

If you listen to the radio at all, you no doubt notice that the same songs are played REPEATEDLY, and across multiple stations! How many times a day do we REALLY have to hear, well, check out the following. The clip is about 2 minutes long, but I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t listen to all of it.

Sound familiar? You’re probably as tired of hearing these same songs as EVERYONE else. Or, is it possible that we secretly love turning on the radio and having the same songs played over and over?

Who Is Todd Storz?

Mr. Storz is credited with being the father of the Top 40 radio format, which is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. It’s no secret that there isn’t a whole lot of variety on the radio stations that play predominantly pop/rap/r&b. As much as we love to criticize the repetition of songs, I am going to go out on a limb and say that deep down, we enjoy the familiarity and consistency. Ok, well not all of us. Clearly radio stations have discovered a format that works well. A question I’ve been asking myself recently is…

Can Radio Stations Play a Different Song?

Let’s say you’re a producer at a radio station, or even a DJ. What if upon listening to the new Black Eyed Peas album you find that you dislike the songs “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”. Uh oh. Those seem to be the songs that are playing on radio stations. As far as I understand it, radio stations can only play the songs that artists have given permission to play. There’s a reason that the songs you hear on the radio are usually the catchier, more marketable songs and that upon buying the album (does anyone buy albums anymore) you discover that the rest of it’s not so great.

Do We Just THINK a Station is Repeating Songs?

Here’s something to consider: what if it just feels like a radio station is playing the same songs over and over because we channel-surf and only listen at certain times of the day. Many people probably only listen to the radio while in the car, for example. If they’re not listening for long periods of time, then when they do tune in they probably want to hear their favorite songs. Let’s say you drive to work in the morning and scan the stations, catching a couple of them playing “Papparazzi” by Lady Gaga. First of all, those are separate stations giving listeners what they apparently want. Now, on your way home you listen again and lo and behold, there’s the song again. Was it the same station as before? Even if so, that might only be the second time they play it all day. Is that possible? I don’t really know. And I’m not sure I want to count the number of times songs are played on a single station, although I think it would be an interesting experiment.

Conclusion

I don’t know which comes first: the desire to hear a song and then the radio stations playing it, or the radio stations playing and then our expectation (desire) to hear it. If we’re bombarded with enough auto-tuned rap songs will we eventually crave them? Maybe. Either way, I suspect that the quality and variety of music is dictated by what’s available to play, and what people want to hear. Radio stations want to play what’s new and what’s popular. As much as individual listeners may want to hear classics or b-sides, the majority of people want to hear something familiar and catchy. And despite the annoyance of that new Mariah Carey song, it may be worse for a station to AVOID playing what all others are. In a nutshell, I think that’s how we get radio stations full of songs that sound the same. In an effort to make money, artists make something that’s similar to what’s popular and radio stations play them for the same reason. So if you find yourself unable to differentiate Jason Derulo from Fabolous from Drake, don’t feel bad. With any luck, music will come back someday.

by Antares Audio Technologies

By now you are no doubt VERY familiar with this overused vocal gimmick, made popular by rapper T-Pain, although first used (notably, anyway) by Cher. That’s right, “Believe” made use of the effect LOOOONG before hip hop got its hands on it. Do you believe in life after auto-tune? I sure do!

Talkboxes and Vocoders

I don’t want to get too far into this, but a lot of people confuse talkboxes (pictured below) and vocoders (pictured below IT) with the auto-tune effect. They’re not the same thing, though they can sometimes sound the same.

TALKBOX

More about talkboxes here.

Song that features the talkbox!

VOCODER

More about vocoders here.

Song that features the vocoder!

Back to Auto-Tune

A basic definition from Wikipedia: Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies that uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed many artists to produce more precisely tuned recordings. The term “autotune” is also used to refer to pitch correction technologies developed by other companies.

Like I said, the first song that most people can remember having featured the auto-tune (obviously, at least) is Cher’s 1998 “Believe”:
Video available here, since I can’t embed it.

Other Notable Auto-Tune Moments

Kid Rock – Only God Knows Why (1998)

Daft Punk – One More Time (2000)

T-Pain – Buy You a Drank (2007)

Snoop Dogg – Sensual Seduction (2007)

Lil Wayne – Lollipop (2008)

Kanye West – Heartless (2008)

Backlash, Creative Adoption and Satire

Among others, Jay-Z has taken a stand against this one-hit-wonder-making effect:

Jay-Z – D.O.A (Death of Autotune)

Others choose to use the effect in very creative ways. A 24-year-old Brooklyn musician named Michael Gregory has combined a number of evening news broadcast clips and turned them into a vaguely acceptable faux R&B series:

Auto-Tune the News (check out Katie Couric at 1:21)

During the 2009 Emmy’s, Jimmy Fallon came out auto-tuning all over the place:

Jimmy Fallon at the Emmy’s

As best I can tell, it was a commentary on the over-usage of Auto-Tune and also a jab at Drake (the latest and greatest autotuner, from Canada might I add). Check out 33 seconds in:

Drake Falls on Stage

Conclusion

It’s disgusting that talentless hacks can use Auto-Tune and become instant hits, polluting radio stations across North America. If ever you’re completely fed up with it, just remember that these guys have something in common with Kid Rock: they have little talent, they used auto-tune and hopefully soon they’ll be gone, too.