Certainly each generation seems to be handling the information flow better than the previous one - and yes - I think there is a move to a constant connected state - if you look at just the data and the information behavior - then such a radio station makes sense - but I don't think it will work.

From inside the music business - we may look at Radio as a marketing tool - but I suspect listeners adopt a fundamentally different perspective.. I have the radio on because I like listening to music - or I want to get updated on what's happening in the world - or I'm driving to work and it's something that fills the silence - the point is - I don't want to have to work at it - the idea of filtering 10 second clips and remembering which ones to check out later - regardless of how good the interface is - just doesn't sound like an enjoyable experience.

I think Twitter works because the message still has meaning - sure you can click and learn more - but those 160 characters can stand alone. I don't think a song can be "communicated" effectively from a 10 second clip - ( and should it happen - just picture how the focus will turn on the 10 seconds that get exposed...)

Songs have been around for ever - regardless of the technical environment - rather than the format of radio changing - I suspect that the very nature of Radio itself will change. The concept of a few taste makers broadcasting to the masses on proprietary media is dying - we're going to find new music because our networks recommend it - and they'll do that on Twitter, on Facebook, on our iPhone or even on their radio station - created with Pandora or Slacker - and distributed to us by the same methods.

Bruce,

I don't think the idea is that absurd ;-) in strictly "continuous-partial-attention" terms - Radio is still a viable delivery method - but you're right - what the hell is it going to do when current services are inefficient and redundant?

I think the audio ticker tape idea has value - but I'd run it as an internet station - it is more likely that the listener is in front of a screen and can interact. It's not that different to my behavior skimming clips on eMusic - and hell - I just hit 40 so I'm probably waaay behind the curve when it comes to modern listening behavior!

As for trad music Radio - with so much "data driven" filtering happening online and a one way delivery system - I think the only thing they can do is build the cult of personality - can you imagine Lefsetz radio? - but having just seen the demise of Indie 103.1 and Jonesy's Jukebox - maybe that's a dead end too.

I can more imagine this as a web broadcast where you get to sample all the new releases in a genre this way via short clips, but can stop and start it as at will and click through to full song streams. Someone should do this. (Bruce?)

I know this may be the way things are going...but what's next? The art in the Louvre as a Flickr slide show set at 2 seconds a frame? OK so not all songs deserve to be called "art", but still...

There are significant filtering problems inherent in attention scarcity, which applies to music as much as social interactions generally - and of course, music should have significant social components too.

I recall that record labels used to play seven second clips of songs to housewives to test their hit potential - if they turned down the volume, the song was binned. For musicians to compete against attention scarcity, should we actually target such short formats? I mentioned this in a previous post here... http://www.podcomplex.com/blog/thirty-second-songs/

This was quite the timely article as a popular Belgian production/DJ duo known as Soulwax just put together a 60 minute mix for Rob Da Bank's show on BBC Radio 1 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/robdabank/), which consisted of introductions from 420 songs spliced together. Everyone is guaranteed to recognize quite a few songs as it covers many pop tunes through the years. As I listen, I perk up and smile everytime I hear how they spliced the introduction hook of one of my favorite songs with another that I've never heard.

It's quite entertaining and hyperactive. Definitely worth a listen, I imagine it took a ton of work.

As far as all this continuous partial attention goes... A song is all about the hook, whatever that may be. Some hooks are apparent in 4 seconds, others are the result of a development over minutes, it really depends. To attain quick success, the current state of recorded music requires that the hook happens soon. But if you're good, you're good and it's only a matter of time before people just take a minute and listen.

Frankly the sound of all of that, including that horrendous radio station you just invented, makes me want to smoke crack, or whatever drug the kids are doing these days ...

Your last idea could be very effective for certain groups of people who have a short attention span, and might even work for the impatient types who just want the "basic idea" of a song as possible. However, the latter group can also fall into two categories: those who ONLY want those ten seconds because they don't have the patience for anything else, and those who despite their impatience, still want at least a verse (maybe pre-chorus) and a chorus to show them the flow of a song. After all, you can hear the hook and still not see how it fits into the context of the rest of the piece, so it won't stick with you or make you curious.

Personally, I fall into a category of people who are very annoyed by clips and want the whole song--unabridged, uncut--because otherwise, the emotional experience just doesn't happen, even if the song is great. It's not going to catch my attention if I only hear ten seconds of a hook. Thirty seconds might cut it--in fact, if it hadn't been for melodicrock.com's thirty second clips, I might never have bought Tony Harnell's "Starbreaker" album or Elevener's "When Kalleidoscopes Collide." I'm not sure if it's the webmaster/reviewer who makes the promo clips or if he simply receives them from the labels, but they generally give the best part of the song so you really know what you're getting and it really DOES catch your attention.

I will say this, though...if a song simply takes too long to develop, I lose interest in it. Having a ten-second clip of the build-up MIGHT work, but If I go to the website to listen to the whole thing and hear two minutes of verses and instrumental interludes, I won't waste my time. Unless it's Steve Reich or Philip Glass, but that's a whole other story entirely.

I'm not sure if this feedback affects your ideas at all, but I figured having another listener's perspective might help. After all, that's who you'd be targeting.

Something else just occurred to me. I know this entry of yours is rather dated, but I've been reading your more recent work. Perhaps this notion struck you too, since you've been talking about the fact that for people to be really aware of music, it must be played for them repeatedly. It's the same thing with the "hook" in a song.

The reason 10 seconds won't cut it is because you won't get the repetition of the hook. Therefore, you won't remember it. Not to mention that if one hears 600 10-second clips in an hour, there's no way the human mind could process even the few clips that the listener deems pleasurable such that it remembers what to look for on the website. The reason Twitter works is because everyone reads at their own pace and there is NO time limit, thus allowing readers to process fully what they see. Putting a time limit on the processing of visual information makes remembering harder for most people; putting a time limit on the processing of aural information, which takes many people longer to process than that which is visual, makes it nearly impossible for the majority of listeners.

Three- to five-minute songs work because if there is a good hook, it will be repeated at least three times, and sometimes up to twenty, depending on the structure and style of the song. Just like the radio ads where you'll hear a company's phone number repeated five times or more. It's the most basic form of learning that appeals to the human cognitive process.

I'm sure that with those 600 clips, someone could pay to have their song's clip played 60 times and spread out over that hour, but again, without the background of the hook--the accompanying story, the musical context--it simply won't make enough sense to attract the listener to the site. There has to be buildup, preparation. Any creative musical person would tell you the same.

Now, I don't mean to be totally critical of your ideas. Your more recent entries have struck me in a very positive way and have led me to concoct ideas of my own, and I think your digital song analysis software is an excellent move. It is possible you've already moved on from this 10-second clip proposition, so my feedback may be irrelevant. However, if there's someone else out there looking to do something similar, I would still warn them.

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