I carried out a music experiment to prove that you have no power over what becomes a hit song

We all hear that conversation from music industry experts that the media is a representation of the taste of the people. Many professionals have given their ‘hot takes’ in interviews that the people dictate the direction of the media, with their requests being the drivers for the culture and the type of music we have on radio.

“I think the fans are playing the major role,” Popular disc jockey DJ Spinall told me via email when I interviewed him for a different story. “The stakes are really high right now because all the big boys & girls are actively involved and not slowing down anytime soon but in all, I honestly think the fans are fully in charge right now, using social media a tool to voice their opinions.”

While the opinions of a great talent like Spinall is important, we also have to understand that there’s a science behind this. People tune into radio and other media sources to get the latest music. If the radio supplies a specific type of content or a genre of music, and does that repeatedly, it slowly keeps penetrating the listener’s mind with each play, until they begin to listen to it. That’s why artists and record labels try to influence it with payola.

Granted not every song will become a hit with repeated plays, but the media has the power to dictate the music that becomes popular due to the simple fact of having the authority and controlling supply.

To test this theory, I decided to use my colleagues as guinea pigs for an experiment. I brought a little speaker to the office, a small tiny one, from which I periodically play records during work hours (You get some slack to play records as Music Editor. I love this job). When a new song breaks, I play it loudly in the kitchen during breakfast and lunch, at the office after work hours,  and also sometimes plug it into a big smart TV that sits in the center of our office, and also throw in these records at company functions where I deejay.

I make sure these records spin repeatedly, and it is usually fun to watch people go from “what record is this?” to “What’s the name of that song you usually play, so I can play it?” Of course not every song becomes a hit in this office, but many do, and it’s mostly because I supply them with it.

A good example is my colleague Samson Toromade, who is our News Associate and writes about Buhari and all of that political stuff. When I discovered Cardi B’s ‘Bodak Yellow’, I began to play it openly on a weekend when I was stuck at the office with Samson. I played it all weekend from my small speaker. By Monday night, Samson had ‘Bodak Yellow’ on repeat in his earphones.

That’s how radio’s relationship with the people work. They supply, you fall in love.

Another huge record which has become popular within the office is ‘Lotto’, a song by a fairly known musician named Daramola. I discovered the record from Abe Adeile, a producer in our video unit. I started a campaign to play it every morning as the first record my colleagues would listen to. By the weekend, they were the new owners of the record. Spinning it loudly from all their devices.

Check out some of the records which had become fairly popular in the office within the past year.

​Daramola – ‘Lotto’

Cardi B – ‘Bodak Yellow’

Davido – ‘Fall’

Niniola – ‘Maradona’

Louis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee – ‘Despacito’

Deji Abdul – ‘Summer 17’

Small Doctor – ‘Penalty’

Mr Eazi – ‘In the morning’

Odunsi – ‘Desire’ ft Tay Iwar, Funbi

Wande Coal – ‘Iskaba’

Wanlov De Kubolor – ‘My toto’

Jidenna — ‘Bambi’

David Guetta — ‘2U’ ft Justin Bieber

Davido – ‘If’

Humblesmith — ‘Focus’

All of these songs became known to some of my colleagues because I and a few others made it available and constantly supplied it in open space. It’s what the media does to you. They constantly sell you an item, until you become hooked on to it. At that point, it becomes a hit song.

In a nutshell, while social media has greatly cut down the influence of radio, and other social media platforms have exposed people to more music, the easiest way to get people to bump a new record is to constantly attack them with it. Hence OAPs and DJs get the attention of the artists and labels who want their song to become hits.

Picture this. If every broadcasting house, media platforms and others stop paying attention to the popular guys, and supply music from a different genre, trust me, that genre would slowly evolve to become our pop music.

You have very little power over this. The media gives you what they give you. You slowly accept it.