I have not seen the book yet, but the author flogged it on KPCC 'Press Play' on 8 March 2017. The second biggest selling record ever was played twice in a 1955 movie (Blackboard Jungle, I think) and it was chosen because the producer was visiting Glen Ford's home. They were speaking of what up to date tune to use and asked Ford's ten year old son what records he had.
I ordered this for the shelf at the old soldiers' home (thank-you Ms. Stortz of Plattsburgh); while it is not so likely that a patient will read it, there are staffers and (before Covid-19) visitors and volunteers who have time to kill. Since most donations are fiction, I try to supply two or three nonfiction books along with several magazines every week.
In two parts, 'Popularity and the Mind' and 'Popularity and the Market,' this is a clearly written book with eclectic exemplars. Mr. Thompson's goal is "to tell a complex story in a simple way."
From the Introduction: "This is a book about hits, the few products and ideas that achieve extraordinary popularity and commercial success in pop culture and media. The thesis of this book is that even though many number one songs, television shows, blockbuster films, Internet memes, and ubiquitous apps seem to come out of nowhere, this cultural chaos is governed by certain rules: the psychology of why people like what they like, social networks through ideas spread, and the economics of cultural markets. There is a way for people to engineer hits and equally important, a way for other people to know when popularity is being engineered. At its core, the book asks two questions: What is the secret to making products that people like--in music, movies, books, games, apps, and more across the vast landscape of culture? Why do some products fail in these marketplaces while similar ideas catch on and become massive hits?"
Before sending it off I was lucky enough to read a couple chapters:
Chapter Ten: What the People Want I: The Economics of Prophecy. Opening with the reasons given by various experts predicting the failure of the iPhone, Thompson writes, "Humans are prostalgic, enamored by little predictions. But the future is an anarchy that refuses to be governed by even the soundest forecasts. A decade later, the iPhone was not a flop. It was the most profitable hardware invention of the last fifty years." He provides several other examples such as deciding to publish Harry Potter to demonstrate how difficult it is to back a winner and concludes, "Picking a few hits requires a tolerance for many bad ideas, mediocre ideas, and even good ideas cursed with bad timing. Above all, it requires a business model that supports the inevitability that most new things fail; the most promising ideas often attract a chorus of skeptics, and one big hit can pay for a thousand hopes." The Shazam app (tunes can be identified and the locations from which requests for identification are coming from seen) allowed Patch Culbertson of Republic Records to spot the song 'Ride' early on and Aditya Sood to buy the rights of the self-published book that became the film 'The Martian.' Mr. Thompson ends with a detailed consideration of the fast changing broadcast TV, FX, HBO, cable, etc. markets. On multiplier effects he writes, "Growth begets growth, popularity begets popularity. The value of a hit television show is greater than its ratings or its ad rates alone, because those don't account for an even more important feature: their ability to support other shows."
Chapter Eleven: What the People Want II: A History of Pixels and Ink. "What people want from the news...is often not the news." Publishers value truth but also are wise to deliver 'pleasure to its readers' in todays scramble for eyeballs when it is easier to publish something. The problem since the Days of McKinley is to identify what readers want to read and Mr. Thompson begins with newspapers, goes to TV, and ends with Facebook. I have never forgotten Newton Minnow's characterization of television as a 'vast wasteland' but Mr. Thompson reminds us that the FCC commissioner also said, "When television is good, nothing is better."
Endnotes identifying the source of quotes, index.
I ordered this for the shelf at the old soldiers' home (thank-you Ms. Stortz of Plattsburgh); while it is not so likely that a patient will read it, there are staffers and (before Covid-19) visitors and volunteers who have time to kill. Since most donations are fiction, I try to supply two or three nonfiction books along with several magazines every week.
In two parts, 'Popularity and the Mind' and 'Popularity and the Market,' this is a clearly written book with eclectic exemplars. Mr. Thompson's goal is "to tell a complex story in a simple way."
From the Introduction: "This is a book about hits, the few products and ideas that achieve extraordinary popularity and commercial success in pop culture and media. The thesis of this book is that even though many number one songs, television shows, blockbuster films, Internet memes, and ubiquitous apps seem to come out of nowhere, this cultural chaos is governed by certain rules: the psychology of why people like what they like, social networks through ideas spread, and the economics of cultural markets. There is a way for people to engineer hits and equally important, a way for other people to know when popularity is being engineered. At its core, the book asks two questions: What is the secret to making products that people like--in music, movies, books, games, apps, and more across the vast landscape of culture? Why do some products fail in these marketplaces while similar ideas catch on and become massive hits?"
Before sending it off I was lucky enough to read a couple chapters:
Chapter Ten: What the People Want I: The Economics of Prophecy. Opening with the reasons given by various experts predicting the failure of the iPhone, Thompson writes, "Humans are prostalgic, enamored by little predictions. But the future is an anarchy that refuses to be governed by even the soundest forecasts. A decade later, the iPhone was not a flop. It was the most profitable hardware invention of the last fifty years." He provides several other examples such as deciding to publish Harry Potter to demonstrate how difficult it is to back a winner and concludes, "Picking a few hits requires a tolerance for many bad ideas, mediocre ideas, and even good ideas cursed with bad timing. Above all, it requires a business model that supports the inevitability that most new things fail; the most promising ideas often attract a chorus of skeptics, and one big hit can pay for a thousand hopes." The Shazam app (tunes can be identified and the locations from which requests for identification are coming from seen) allowed Patch Culbertson of Republic Records to spot the song 'Ride' early on and Aditya Sood to buy the rights of the self-published book that became the film 'The Martian.' Mr. Thompson ends with a detailed consideration of the fast changing broadcast TV, FX, HBO, cable, etc. markets. On multiplier effects he writes, "Growth begets growth, popularity begets popularity. The value of a hit television show is greater than its ratings or its ad rates alone, because those don't account for an even more important feature: their ability to support other shows."
Chapter Eleven: What the People Want II: A History of Pixels and Ink. "What people want from the news...is often not the news." Publishers value truth but also are wise to deliver 'pleasure to its readers' in todays scramble for eyeballs when it is easier to publish something. The problem since the Days of McKinley is to identify what readers want to read and Mr. Thompson begins with newspapers, goes to TV, and ends with Facebook. I have never forgotten Newton Minnow's characterization of television as a 'vast wasteland' but Mr. Thompson reminds us that the FCC commissioner also said, "When television is good, nothing is better."
Endnotes identifying the source of quotes, index.
