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Okay, what is it with Swedes min-maxing their way to the top of pop music? How do they do it? Even Pewdiepie is like another case of chasing algorithmic success

Okay, what is it with Swedes min-maxing their way to the top of pop music? How do they do it? Even Pewdiepie is like another case of chasing algorithmic success.

juitpykyk 3y ago
My conspiracy theory is that the weather is so depressing that you stay inside and make music. Maybe this also explains UK success in music :)
- hhmc 3y ago
  Why is this conspiratorial? It’s simply a theory, no?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- Aromasin 3y ago
  It's also no surprise that Iceland has the highest number of authors per capita!
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  Probably one of several factors. It's a pretty well known secret that a large part of why there is a Swedish cottage music industry is the historical ease of welfare fraud, on top of the already generous grants for cultural activities. You could basically get the government to not only pay for your rent, but your studio and equipment as well. Generations of Swedish musicians were living off unemployment checks while getting started. That era has drawn to a close, but there's still significant momentum left in the music industry it spawned.
rightbyte 3y ago
In this case he maybe have insider knowledge of how the algorithm works due to friends inside Spotify? I would suspect the best SEO consultants have worked at Google or have friends inside.
l33tman 3y ago
In this case it's not pop music, it's instrumental ambient music and childrens tunes.. Very particular set of playlists, Spotify-owned, that if you get into them you're essentially guaranteed millions of streams (as those playlists have tens of millions of followers that I'm sure just have them on repeat often - guilty here as well..) Aside from the sketchy issue with faking 750 artist names, apparently the music is good and has good artistic intent within the genre. According to the article, you can do deals where you trade away part of your royalty for a higher placement on those Spotify-owned playlists, which in his case seems to be the right business choice to make by far.
- fsloth 3y ago
  " faking 750 artist names" Why would this be problematic? Artist commonly work under one or more pseudonyms. 750 is quite a lot for sure, but is there material difference between that and just a few?
  - kandel 3y ago
    One could say he is dominating an opportunity reserved for small-time artists by deceit.
    - dawgbrolamo 3y ago
      smurfing the music world, epic
  - hoffs 3y ago
    Because it floods any related recommendations with same artist ultimately
    - fsloth 3y ago
      I thought the intent was to maximize diversification, not to saturate a single channel? Not sure what actually takes place and I may be mistaken.
  - 3y ago
amelius 3y ago
A/B-testing every single note?
Ma8ee 3y ago
We used to have Kommunala Musikskolan, where kids for a relatively low fee could learn to play music. In the year 2000 it had 335 000 pupils (at the time the population of Sweden was less than 9 million people).
systemvoltage 3y ago
High IQ
j45 3y ago
It's a few formulas not different ones.

Okay, what is it with Swedes min-maxing their way to the top of pop music? How do they do it? Even Pewdiepie is like another case of chasing algorithmic success.

juitpykyk 3y ago

My conspiracy theory is that the weather is so depressing that you stay inside and make music. Maybe this also explains UK success in music :)

hhmc 3y ago
Why is this conspiratorial? It’s simply a theory, no?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Aromasin 3y ago
It's also no surprise that Iceland has the highest number of authors per capita!
marginalia_nu 3y ago
Probably one of several factors. It's a pretty well known secret that a large part of why there is a Swedish cottage music industry is the historical ease of welfare fraud, on top of the already generous grants for cultural activities. You could basically get the government to not only pay for your rent, but your studio and equipment as well. Generations of Swedish musicians were living off unemployment checks while getting started. That era has drawn to a close, but there's still significant momentum left in the music industry it spawned.

rightbyte 3y ago

In this case he maybe have insider knowledge of how the algorithm works due to friends inside Spotify? I would suspect the best SEO consultants have worked at Google or have friends inside.

l33tman 3y ago

In this case it's not pop music, it's instrumental ambient music and childrens tunes.. Very particular set of playlists, Spotify-owned, that if you get into them you're essentially guaranteed millions of streams (as those playlists have tens of millions of followers that I'm sure just have them on repeat often - guilty here as well..) Aside from the sketchy issue with faking 750 artist names, apparently the music is good and has good artistic intent within the genre. According to the article, you can do deals where you trade away part of your royalty for a higher placement on those Spotify-owned playlists, which in his case seems to be the right business choice to make by far.

fsloth 3y ago
" faking 750 artist names" Why would this be problematic? Artist commonly work under one or more pseudonyms. 750 is quite a lot for sure, but is there material difference between that and just a few?
- kandel 3y ago
  One could say he is dominating an opportunity reserved for small-time artists by deceit.
  - dawgbrolamo 3y ago
    smurfing the music world, epic
- hoffs 3y ago
  Because it floods any related recommendations with same artist ultimately
  - fsloth 3y ago
    I thought the intent was to maximize diversification, not to saturate a single channel? Not sure what actually takes place and I may be mistaken.
- 3y ago

amelius 3y ago

A/B-testing every single note?

Ma8ee 3y ago

We used to have Kommunala Musikskolan, where kids for a relatively low fee could learn to play music. In the year 2000 it had 335 000 pupils (at the time the population of Sweden was less than 9 million people).

systemvoltage 3y ago

High IQ

j45 3y ago

It's a few formulas not different ones.