The beat goes on

The next hit song you buy could have its musical ingredients selected by artificial-intelligence programs to ensure it makes it up the charts

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In the year ahead, predicting which song will rise to the top of the charts is going to become less of a hit-and-miss affair. Until now, even the best music producers have got it wrong more often than they have got it right. Fortunes spent on promotion have been squandered on bad songs. So anything that can reduce the unpredictability in selecting songs can potentially save millions in mis-spent revenue.

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