Reddit Users Try To Crowdsource A Pop Hit

A group of folks on Reddit have decided to work together to create a pop song and take it to the top of the charts. It sounds somewhat absurd until you consider how formulaic pop music can be and then check out the beehive of activity on their subreddit. In the process of finding out more about Reddit Top of the Pops, I also discovered another music project called Radio Reddit that is dedicated to sharing music by musicians who are involved with Reddit.

Reddit Top of the Pops is a subreddit or subsection of Reddit. Reddit is described as a social news site that focuses on news links but it's a much more complex phenomenon than such terms indicate. I'm not sure I can do the scene justice so you'll have to take a look for yourself and decide what's going on.

Reddit Top of the Pops is a collection of official documents and threaded discussions focused on "trying to get our own generic pop song to the top of the charts." At first glance it is a bit overwhelming but has a fairly straightforward organization that simply requires one spend a lot of time and ideally be a part of the process to sort out.

Here's the "General Roadmap and Execution Plan:"

1. We all nominate starter backing tracks, ones with the most potential in this thread: http://tinyurl.com/c9vkm9j
2. Have producers make a polished versions of the backing tracks
3. Have lyricists write lyrics
4. Have singers record lyrics
5. Have mixers mix the backing tracks and the recorded vocals
6. Have masterers master the final mixes
7. Have videographers create music videos
8. Register as a charity
9. Have a host release the EP online
10. Collect and distribute royalties accordingly
11. Bask in glory

Sunday was the last day to submit backing tracks. People have been volunteering for the various roles to be played in coming days and, whatever the outcome, it seems pretty clear there will be one.

According to The Daily Dot, the process was initiated by redditor Indubitable_Smoo and got off to a quick start. Check Chase Hoffberger's piece on The Daily Dot for more on the early days of a future hit.

Not everyone on Reddit has been supportive. Redditor octatone commented:

"While everyone is circlejerking over creating pop music, lets not forget there are a bunch of reddit artists making great undiscovered music over on radio reddit."

Radio Reddit is an offsite project described as:

"redditor made music and redditor controlled live streaming radio and music discovery. Only your votes determine who is included and heard in the live streams."

Radio Reddit has a presence on Reddit and, according to Austin Powell of The Daily Dot, is "operated by a team of four volunteers."

Sounds like Reddit has it all from community-based indie music to crowdsourced hit making machinery.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business & Revenue Models and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.