Os Top 10 Do 'BuzzAngle Music' De 2017

Top 10 Takeaways From BuzzAngle Music 2017 U.S. Year-End Report

First of all thanks to Kristin Westcott Grant for this article.

Third time's the charm, and there is nowhere to go but up. This was the essence of the BuzzAngle Music 2017 U.S. Report, which highlighted the music industry’s third consecutive growth year. The report was published by Jim Lidestri, CEO of Buzz Angle Music, one of the foremost data aggregation and information platforms in the North American music market. Here are my top 10 takeaways from the 2017 U.S. Report.

1. Deep Catalog Music Drives More Than Half of Total U.S. Music Consumption

Deep Catalog represents songs and albums that have been released over three years ago. BuzzAngle Music reports that across the spectrum of album and song consumption, Deep Catalog accounts for 51.2% of all listening. New releases - songs that are eight weeks old or less - represent only 9% of total song consumption. Based solely on listening habits, this suggests how challenging it is for newer musicians to build a habitual fan base. 

2. Recorded Audio Streams Rose From 250 billion in 2016 to 377 billion in 2017

In 2017, BuzzAngle Music reported a total of 377B streams, an increase of 50.3% from last year. In addition, more music fans are now paying for their listening time while subscription streaming has risen from 76% to 80%. This large growth spike furthers Goldman Sachs’ projections that streaming will drive over $34 billion dollars’ worth of total revenue for the music business by 2030. 

3. Rock Music Drives 20% Rise in Vinyl Sales While Leading Total U.S. Album Listening

Vinyl now comprises 10.4% of all physical album sales. In total, in 2017, the Rock genre made up 53.9% of all vinyl sales.  The top-selling vinyl album of the year was Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, with over 64,175 vinyl albums sold. Harvest Moon by Neil Young was the best-selling album and vinyl album on Black Friday at independent music stores. Overall, the rock genre was the most popular genre when measuring total U.S. album consumption, making up 22.2% of all U.S. listening.

4. Lil Pump, Post Malone and Drake Drive U.S. Streams During Holiday Season

The week of December 15th was the largest streaming week of the year. It marked the first time that total U.S. streams surpassed 14 billion for a single week. Post Malone was the number one streamed artist during the holiday season in the United States with 638.7 million streams. Drake was positioned at number two with 483.2 million streams. Gucci Gang by Lil Pump was the most streamed video in the U.S. during the holiday season, reaching 135.1 million video streams.

5. Despacito is the Most Streamed Song of 2017, While Latin Genre Sees Growth Spike

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit entitled, Despacito,helped solidify Latin-pop crossover and mass-popularity in the U.S., reaching approximately 1.1 billion streams. The track’s continued success throughout the year was spurred by the release of a remix, featuring Justin Bieber. Overall, the Latin genre saw a 23.2% rise of total album consumption and a 25.9% rise in total song consumption between 2016 and 2017. 

What is Total Album & Song Consumption?

Total Album Consumption = Album Sales + (Song Sales/10) + (Song Streams/1500)

Total Song Consumption = Song Sales + (On-Demand Streams/150)

The industry uses a single measure to calculate how a specific title is performing. Since revenue dollars are not public, consumption is calculated based on units sold. The industry uses one album sale as the base unit and then uses weighting factors for song sales and song streams to provide a blended measure of performance.  These album and song consumption formulas are listed above.

6. Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift Drive Top Album Sales in the U.S. with No Grammy Nomination

Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift were the only two artists in 2017 to surpass 1 million album sales, including digital album downloads and physical albums sold. Swift’s album entitled reputation, sold 1,899,722 albums, while Ed Sheeran’s album ÷, pronounced “divide,” sold 1,042,255 albums. Unfortunately, however, neither album was nominated for Top Album of the Year Award at the 2018 Grammys. Current nominations include Childish Gambino, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, and Bruno Mars.

7. In 2017, 90.9% of Jazz Music Consumed is from Online Streaming

Worth noting in the BuzzAngle Music Report is a graph that breaks down the percentage of album sales, song sales and total streams by genre. Interestingly out of all Jazz music consumed in the United States in 2017, cd’s, vinyl, and digital downloads only made up 9.1%, while 90.9% of all Jazz music consumed occurred on streaming platforms. 

8. BuzzAngle Highlights Eighteen Past, Present U.S. Music Legends Lost in 2017

This year saw the tragic passing of past, present music icons, including but not exclusive to: Lil Peep, Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, Christopher Wong, Prodigy, Gregg Allman, J. Geils, Chuck Berry, Joni Sledge, Al Jarreau, Tom Petty, Fats Domino, Malcolm Young, Mel Tillis, Della Reese, David Cassidy, Pat DiNizio, and Kim Jong-hyun. 

9. On Average, U.S. Listeners listen to 162 minutes of music per day

Based on a U.S. survey run in 2017, which analyzed the media consumption habits of over 3,006 people, listening to music was the second most popular media type at 83%. Viewing content on social media succeeded as the primarily consumed medium at 87%.  

10. Urban Music Accounted for 32% of all U.S. Streams in 2017

Half of the Top 1,000 songs streamed in 2017 was Urban. Rap and Hip Hop made up 40%, while R&B comprised 10%. Drake led the charge in the Urban takeover, having been the only artist to break six million streams in one year, two years in a row. Artist, Future, was a close second at 4.2 billion streams. Worth mentioning in this category is Kendrick Lamar’s single, Humble, which was the must audio-streamed song in 2017 with over 555.2 million streams.

‘Black Lightning’ O Tema Principal Foi Liberado

‘Black Lightning’ Main Title Theme Released

WaterTower Music has released the main title theme from the new CW drama Black Lightning. The track is performed by Godholly and is now available as a digital single, which also includes the song Powerfrom the pilot episode The Resurrection. Visit Amazon to download the single. A full soundtrack album is expected to be released after the show concludes its first season later this year. Black Lightning is developed by Samil Akil & Mara Brock Akil based on the DC comic books character created by Tony Isabella & Trevor Von Eeden and stars Cress Williams, Nafessa Williams, China Anne McClain and Christine Adams. The show’s first season premiered this past Tuesday and will air weekly on The CW. Visit the official show website for updates.

O Que O Bitcoin E Blockchain Podem Mudar Na Indústria Da Música

What Is Bitcoin, Blockchain's Future in the Music Industry?

"Blockchain technology is coming like a tsunami," says Dot Blockchain CEO Benji Rogers. "Every business in this space needs to start thinking about a Blockchain strategy." 

A specter is haunting the music business -- the specter of Bitcoin. To be more specific, it's the Fear of Missing Out on Bitcoin, which is only natural given the digital currency's climb from a value of about $1,000 to more than $19,000, before it settled at about $15,000. Suddenly, a business that has spent the last decade making it more convenient to pay for its products is experimenting with digital cryptocurrencies that are technologically innovative, mathematically secure and actually fairly inconvenient to use. What is to be done?  

In November, Bjork began selling her album in Bitcoin and three other digital currencies. (The first major artist to accept Bitcoin seems to be -- go figure -- 50 Cent.) Ghostface Killah got involved in issuing his own cryptocurrency, which seems uncomfortably close to the Chappelle's Show's "Wu-Tang Financial skit that shows the hip-hop group offering investment advice. In early December, a team involved with the cryptocurrency Monero announced Project Coral Reef, which allows consumers to buy merchandise from Mariah Carey, G-Eazy, Fall Out Boy and other artists who have deals with Global Merchandising Services. Now the DJ Gareth Emery plans to release, sell, and pay royalties for music using both digital currency and the blockchain technology that it often runs on.

Digital cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could be transformative and they're rising in value so fast that they're impossible to ignore. (Even J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon turned around.) At the same time, the only person I know who has ever actually bought anything with Bitcoin is my former neighbor in Berlin, who ordered LSD by mail from the online Silk Road marketplace for illegal drugs. It's not clear how much this will help the music business, however, since rising Bitcoin transaction fees are making the currency so impractical that even a bitcoin conference stopped accepting them.

As cool as cryptocurrencies are, it's still not clear what problem they solve. Consider Monero, which offers users even more privacy than Bitcoin by obscuring the identities of payers. That has potential and it makes sense for businesses to accept whatever currency their customers want to use. "It's what we want to do," says Christopher Drinkwater, Global Merchandising Services' head of e-commerce. "Make things as easy as possible."

The customer is always right and Drinkwater says purchases made with Monero are increasing. Once the novelty wears off, though, isn't it just easier to buy things with a credit card? Sure, anyone who's embarrassed about their love for the Backstreet Boys can now buy a T-shirt in secret. Wearing it will still be a giveaway, though.

So far in the music business, there are more serious discussions about the blockchain technology that Bitcoin is built on, since it can store information on a database that's distributed widely online -- and thus both open to read and impossible to alter in secret. "The blockchain is real," Dimon said recently. Dot Blockchain Media wants to use this to replace the industry's many, old, incomplete rights-holder databases with a music file format that contains rights information along with recordings. Theoretically, at least, this would solve the problem of streaming services not being able to identify or find the rights owners for the songs they use. Which some say has the potential to change the business. Theoretically.

"Blockchain technology is coming like a tsunami," says Dot Blockchain CEO Benji Rogers. (Why are digital technologies always compared to destructive weather events?) "Every business in this space needs to start thinking about a Blockchain strategy."

Some have. In April, ASCAP joined with SACEM and PRS for Music in a venture to explore the potential of the technology to track rights ownership. "The same real-time update and tracking capabilities that make blockchain attractive to the financial industry also make it an attractive option for the music industry, where accurate, real-time ownership data will grease the wheels for the money to flow to songwriters and copyright owners with less overhead," says ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews. "It is not a panacea to solve the music industry's problems, but we see potential in the future as one of many data initiatives the industry should be exploring."

This makes sense. So far, though, the music business is more interested in a tsunami that may never appear. (And if it does, wouldn't it actually make sense to hide? Does anyone ever look at a tsunami and think, "Hey, I'd like to incorporate that tsunami into my business strategy"?) Gareth Emery, who will soon launch Choon, wants to pay performers and songwriters accurately and immediately by transferring digital currency into their online wallets as soon as their songs are streamed. His idea is that blockchain technology can help musicians run their own careers, without so much money going to "intermediaries and middleman." It's a compelling vision, rooted in the kind of techno-utopian optimism that has fueled the rise of Bitcoin, but, like most music business blockchain ventures, it reflects a fundamental disconnect from what the technology can and can't do. Apparently, when you have a technologically innovative, encrypted hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Blockchain ensures the integrity of information by keeping records of it that are distributed online. That's awesome, but it only matters if the information is actually present and correct in the first place. And the main problem with music business record-keeping isn't that rights ownership information gets changed without authorization (although that does happen occasionally) -- it's that it's simply not there in the first place. As an example, think about Spotify's failure to license mechanical rights to the compositions it streamed, because it couldn't identify or find rights holders. The problem isn't protecting the integrity of information -- it's gathering and getting it right it in the first place.

The idea that blockchain will transform the music business is full of this kind of magical thinking. Dot Blockchain's new file format could help solve some of the music industry's problems going forward -- which could improve efficiency in several ways -- but it won't magically fill in information that's now missing. (Rogers says the project could solve that in another way that wouldn't involve blockchain.) In a blog post about Dot Blockchain Music, Rogers writes that songwriters now have no way to say that they don't want their compositions used to soundtrack objectionable videos -- white nationalist rallies for example -- and this technology would allow them to express this as a series of permissions that travel with a song. Cool! Except that in almost all these cases, the makers of such videos already need to get permission -- that's the law. The problem isn't that creators can't assert their rights -- it's that they can't enforce them. If Dot Blockchain gave them a way to do so, would YouTube implement it?

Choon is even more disconnected from the current reality of the music industry. The reason businesses don't pay right away isn't usually because they don't know where to send a check -- it's because they'd rather delay doing so in order to preserve their cashflow. Blockchain won't change that. Sure, it could eventually help eliminate some of the middlemen who divide up pools of revenue, but be careful what you wish for -- some of those same middlemen negotiate on behalf of right sholders to expand the overall amount of revenue to split. Without them, individual creators don't have much leverage.

So far, blockchain is still a solution looking for a problem -- it hasn't fundamentally changed a single business, except for conferences about blockchain technology (which, to be fair, are enjoying an unprecedented boom). "Blockchain is about solving problems that only exist because the people trying to do so have a fundamentally weird view of the world," says David Gerard, a technology consultant who wrote the book "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts." (How's that for a B'accuse?) "Here they're trying to use it to keep track of the data but the problem is that the data is crap."

In the long run, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology probably will change the music business -- just a lot less quickly and glamorously think people think. In 2014, years before Ghostface went crypto, the singer-songwriter Tatiana Moroz issued "TatianaCoin," digital tokens, not unlike Bitcoins, that her fans could exchange for memorabilia or access to exclusive events. It's an interesting idea, and Moroz was in the process of helping the company Tokenly make the technology available to other artists, but the SEC crackdown on initial coin offerings put those plans on hold. For now, at least, any artist experiments with crypto-tokens will be overshadowed by the SEC's efforts to prevent investors from being deceived by "initial coin offerings."

Blockchain could also change the way the music business tracks rights ownership, much as ASCAP's Matthews suggests. But it will probably do so in ways that aren't especially cool -- or even, perhaps, visible. The idea that rights holders will get paid the instant consumers stream a song just isn't realistic -- blockchain technology simply can't process that much data fast enough. But it could be used to compare rights databases in real time, flag conflicts for examination and improve back-office efficiency for collecting societies in all kinds of ways. This is a bigger deal than it sounds -- more efficiency for collecting societies means more money for creators and rights holders. But it's not much of a tsunami -- more of a steady, gentle wave. It only makes sense for music companies and creators to test the water -- but anyone who dives in expecting big waves might be surprised at how shallow it still is.

Universal Music Group Aumenta Acima De 10% Os Ganhos Do último Trimestre

Universal Music Group Q4 Earnings Up 10 Percent, According to Early Report

Universal Music Group will see a 10 percent growth in earnings in its fourth quarter, according to an early guidance report issued by parent company Vivendi. 

The report also notes a nearly a 20 percent boost in overall earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). A full report will be released next month. 

Looking ahead, last year's deals with Spotify and YouTube are highlighted as cause for optimism, as the report states, "enabling improved flexibility and better monetization of artist content while creating new revenue streams for the years to come." Other opportunities for growth include licensing deals inked with China's leading digital music platform Tencent last May and Facebook in December -- the first of any majors. 

Last quarter, UGM's operating profits fell to €161 million ($188.2 million), down almost 8 percent from €174 million ($192 million) in the same period last year. But its revenues rose nearly 1 percent (0.08 percent) to €1.32 billion ($1.54 billion) from last year's €1.31 billion ($1.45 billion).

'The Greatest Showman' - Trilha Sonora Pela segunda Semana No Primeiro Lugar Do Top 200

'The Greatest Showman' Soundtrack Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

The soundtrack to the musical drama film The Greatest Showman scores a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the set earned 104,000 equivalent album units (down 3 percent) in the week ending Jan. 11, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 70,000 were in traditional album sales (down 10 percent).

The Greatest Showman is just the fifth soundtrack in the last 10 years to spend multiple weeks at No. 1.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 20-dated chart (where The Greatest Showman spends a second week at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s websites on Wednesday, Jan. 17 (one day later than normal, due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Jan. 15).

In the past 10 years, 21 soundtracks have hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and, of those, just five have netted multiple weeks atop the list: The Greatest Showman (two, so far), Suicide Squad: The Album (two, in 2016), Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (two, 2014), Frozen (13, 2014) and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 -- Showstoppers (two, 2010). The last live action musical released in movie theaters to see its soundtrack notch more than a week at No. 1 was the Dreamgirls album, with two weeks in the penthouse back in 2007. 

Since The Greatest Showman’s release in theaters on Dec. 20, the movie has earned an estimated $95 million at the U.S. and Canada box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

The Greatest Showman album features performances by the movie’s stars, including Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya and Michelle Williams. Four songs from the album debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 13, led by “This Is Me,” by Keala Settle and the film’s ensemble.

Back on the new Billboard 200 chart, Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) holds at No. 2 with 53,000 units (down 21 percent), while G-Eazy’s The Beautiful & Damned returns to its peak (and debut position) at No. 3 with 38,000 units (down 10 percent).

Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic hits its highest rank in eight months, and returns to the top 10 after more than four months, climbing 15-4 with 37,000 units (up 75 percent). The set's rise is driven by the strong start of its new single, “Finesse,” which has been boosted by a new remix with rapper Cardi B. (The remix is merged with the original version of "Finesse," and contributes to the SEA and TEA units of the song's parent album, as most remixes do.)

The album has not ranked this high since the April 22, 2017-dated list, when it placed at No. 4; and has not been in the top 10 since Sept. 2, 2017, when it was No. 10. The album debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Dec. 10, 2016 chart.

Post Malone’s Stoney ascends 8-5 on the latest Billboard 200, with nearly 37,000 units (down 6 percent), Taylor Swift’s Reputation falls 3-6 with a little over 36,000 units (down 24 percent) and Eminem’s Revival dips 6-7 with 36,000 units (down 11 percent). Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. slides 5-8 with 35,000 units (down 15 percent), Huncho Jack’s Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho is steady at No. 9 with 32,000 units (down 17 percent), and Sam Smith’s The Thrill of It All climbs back into the top 10, rising 12-10 with 29,000 units (up 5 percent).

Universal Expande Parceria Global Com A 'Disney Music'

UMPG Expands Global Partnership With c Publishing

Universal will now administer Disney's iconic catalog in the U.K., Ireland, continental Europe and beyond. 

The Universal Music Publishing Group has expanded its agreement to handle Disney Music Publishing to administering the latter's catalog in the United Kingdom, Ireland, continental Europe, as well as Israel and countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Previously, UMPG handled and retains Disney Music Publishing in Southeast Asia, and many territories in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. 

"We are thrilled to expand our relationship with UMPG into Europe and beyond," Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt said in a statement. "Their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit make for the perfect match for Disney Music Publishing."

Since 2004, UMPG has been serving as sub-publisher for the Disney Music Publishing catalog in Southeast Asia; and in 2015, UMPG's representation added responsibility for the catalog in Latin America (excluding Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), and various countries in the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and the Caribbean. In 2016, the relationship was enhanced yet again to include South Africa and additional African countries.

"Disney is home to one of the most iconic catalogs in history, one that spans cultures, generations and genres," UMPG CEO and global chairman Jody Gerson said in a statement. "We are honored to expand our global collaboration with Disney and we look forward to developing outstanding creative opportunities that build on the company's outstanding legacy."

In another deal, UMPG through Aftercluv Dancelab dance label, has signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Brazilian artist Bruno Martini, who, according to UMPG, is the second most streamed artist in South America.

"Bruno Martini is showing that he's a proven talent, even in the early stages of a promising career that has positioned him as a rising star on the global music scene," UMPG Latin Music executive vp Alexandra Lioutikoff. "UMP Brazil MD Marcelo Falcão and the UMP Latin team are thrilled to welcome Bruno to our family of songwriters and look forward to his continued success."

For his part, Martini says the new relationship with UMPG will open a "lot of opportunities for me as a writer and producer, including working with a range of different artists. This is a huge moment in my career," he added.

In yet another move, UMPG signed country music songwriter Derrick Southerland to a global music publishing deal, Southerland has written or co-written songs for Carrie Underwood, Tim Hicks, and the Swon Brothers, among others. The deal was led by UMPG Nashville's senior creative director Missy Roberts.

"An exciting addition to our UMPG Nashville roster, Derrick is a wonderfully gifted songwriter with a talent for collaborating with writers across genres to create hits," UMPG Nashville evp/gm Kent Earls said in a statement. "Between his work ethic and lyrical sensibilities, we are honored that he has joined us and look forward to his future success."

Como Escrever Uma Canção Que 'Gruda'

How to Write Song Hooks That “Hook” You in

First of all thanks to Jason Blume  for this article.

The more you have, the better your chances of having a hit

What constitutes a hook? Any element of a song that grabs a listener’s attention and “hooks” them in. With there being so much competition for our listeners’ attention, including multiple hooks throughout our songs has become more important than ever.

According to an article in The Atlantic magazine, “A short-attention-span culture demands short-attention-span songs. The writers of Tin Pan Alley and Motown had to write only one killer hook to get a hit. Now you need a new high every seven seconds—the average length of time a listener will give a radio station before changing the channel.” In that same article, Jay Brown, co-founder of Jay Z’s Roc Nation label, was quoted as saying, “It’s not enough to have one hook anymore. You’ve got to have a hook in the intro, a hook in the pre, a hook in the chorus, and a hook in the bridge, too.” Mega-hit songwriter/producer Ester Dean, with hits by artists including Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, echoed this sentiment almost word for word.

Note that some people refer to a song’s chorus as its hook, using the word “chorus” and “hook” interchangeably. But hooks can be in any section of a song. Let’s take a look at some of the various types of hooks we can incorporate into our songs.

Instrumental Hooks

Including musical hooks—catchy melodic phrases that repeat throughout our songs and do not include lyrics—can help keep our listeners engaged. In some instances, such as those listed below, an instrumental lick serves as the heartbeat of the song.

It would be hard to find a more iconic musical hook than the one that is the basis of the Rolling Stone’s seminal hit “Satisfaction” (written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards). Keith Richards’ driving guitar lick is every bit as memorable as the melodies Mick Jagger sings.

“Layla” (recorded by Derek and the Dominos and written by Eric Clapton and James Beck Gordon) is fueled by Clapton’s iconic lick. This musical motif is heard during the song’s intro and repeatedly throughout the chorus. It is interesting to note that the song ends with an entirely different instrumental segment.

Notice the use of multiple instrumental hooks in Vanessa Carlton’s self-penned hit “A Thousand Miles.” The song opens with an instantly identifiable musical phrase played on piano. It also features a piano interlude between the lines sung in the verses, as well as an additional hook (played by strings) in the pre-chorus.

A strong case could be made that in the aforementioned songs, the instrumental hooks are the songs’ most memorable and important components.

Signature Licks

In many cases the musical hook is introduced at the onset of the song. In these cases, they can also be considered signature licks. In my article for BMI’s The Weekly I defined a signature lick as a memorable melodic motif—an instantly recognizable musical phrase—that is heard at the beginning of the song. It is also sometimes heard throughout the song, especially during the turnaround, the musical interlude between the end of the first chorus and the subsequent verse.

Unique Instrumentation

The instruments chosen to perform a riff or a lick can make a major contribution to the song sounding hooky and differentiating itself from the competition. The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” is a prime example. It features a catchy lick paired with the sound of an electro-theremin to create a hook that played a big role in propelling the song to countless critics’ “Greatest Songs of All Time” lists.

An excellent example of a musical hook made more memorable by the sound of the instruments playing it can be heard in Little Big Town’s first #1 single and CMA Country Song of the Year, “Pontoon” (written by Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby, and Luke Laird). The catchy lick, played by a mandolin and mellotron synthesizer, is heard during the song’s introduction, throughout the verses, and in the song’s turnaround.

In Phillip Phillips’ “Home” (written by Phillips with Drew Pearson and Greg Holden) an instrumental section essentially takes the place of a chorus and is the most unforgettable part of the song. It is interesting to note that the melody of this section is performed primarily by vocals singing the syllables “ooh” and “ahh” and includes no other lyrics.

“Wipe Out” (written by Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller, and Ron Wilson, and performed by the Surfaris and covered by the Ventures), one of the most recognizable songs from the sixties, was probably most famous for its use of a drum pattern as a hook.

Another instantly identifiable drum pattern serves as an exceptionally effective hook in Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” (written by Daniel Reynolds, Justin Tranter, Benjamin Arthur McKee, Daniel Wayne Sermon, Robin Lennard Fredriksson, and Mattias Per Larsson). This pattern provides a melodic hook throughout the entire song, except for the breakdown section.

Non-Lyric Vocal Hooks

Sounds such as “ah,” “oh,” “ooh,” “hey,” and “I” can create powerful hooks when sung to memorable melodies. One of the most memorable elements in the Bee Gees’ disco classic “Stayin’ Alive” (written by Maurice, Barry, and Robin Gibb) comes each time they sing the phrase “ah ah, ah ah,” followed by the title.

Nonsense syllables, such as “rah rah, ah-ah-ah, ro mah ro-mah-mah,” and “Gaga oh-la-la,” are sung by Lady Gaga to establish an utterly unique hook that burns into listeners’ brains in her massive #1 hit “Bad Romance” (written by Lady Gaga and Nadir “RedOne” Khayat).

And there is no overestimating the contribution of “yeah, yeah, yeah” to the Beatles’ “She Loves You” (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Catchy Rhythms

Listen to the songs referenced below and you’ll hear how unique rhythms can become a song’s most hooky element. The syncopated rhythms heard throughout Jason Mraz’s breakthrough single “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)” (written by Mraz with Lauren Fownes, Scott Spock, and Graham Edwards) create a hook in and of themselves.

The catchiest, most memorable moment in the Supremes’ iconic hit, “Stop! In the Name of Love” (written by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland) is the pause after the word “stop.”

A “Money Note”

An unexpected, ear-grabbing note can serve as a powerful hook. The “money note,” as it is sometimes called, refers to that “wow” note that can be largely attributed to a song’s success. It can be a high or low note, as long as it demands attention. For a great example, listen to the low note that accompanies the word “low” in Garth Brooks’ “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” (written by Dewayne Blackwell and Earl Bud Lee).

Lyric Hooks

While most people associate hooks with melodic elements, lyrics can be hooky, too. A compelling story that keeps a listener waiting to learn what happens can keep our audience hooked in. Great examples of story songs include “Ol’ Red,” recorded by George Jones, Blake Shelton, Kenny Rogers, and written by Don Goodman, Mark Sherrill, and James Bohan) and “Lola” (recorded by The Kinks and written by Ray Davies).

A unique title or a phrase within the lyric can also serve as a hook. Listen to Sugarland’s clever “It Happens” (written by Kristian Bush, Bobby Pinson, and Jennifer Nettles) to hear an exceptional example of a lyric hook.

Summary

Note that in all of the referenced songs the hooks are heard repeatedly. While we want to serve up multiple hooks, we also want those hooks to repeat throughout the song, so they become familiar to the listeners.

Whether your hooks are comprised of memorable instrumental phrases, unique sounds, nonsense syllables, unexpected rhythms, attention-grabbing titles, money notes, they are the tools you can use to hook in your listeners—and keep them on the line.