Popular music hits must be identical to rivals yet individually memorable to sell

Evidence

The publisher wants a piece of music that is fundamentally the same as all the other current hits and simultaneously fundamentally different from them. Only if it is the same does it have a chance of being sold automatically, without requiring any effort on the part of the customer, and of presenting itself as a musical institution. And only if it is different can it be distinguished from other songsa requirement for being remembered and hence for being successful. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1018

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A tightly compressed mechanism: same-ness enables automatic sale, difference enables recall — two constraints that jointly define the commodity form of the hit.
• SEED: This double-bind (same enough to sell, different enough to remember) could anchor an essay on why recommendation algorithms flatten culture.
• XREF: connects to: Hit songs of the 2010s copied seventies tracks so closely they drew plagiarism suits; Under standardized musical production, liking a piece reduces to recognizing it. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 68

Broader Connections

• Hit songs of the 2010s copied seventies tracks so closely they drew plagiarism suits #exemplifies (0.85)
• Under standardized musical production, liking a piece reduces to recognizing it. #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 68