As Music Analysts here at Pandora, we hear a lot of music. Like… a lot. Almost exclusively new releases, spanning a wide spectrum of genres. There’s an in-house tally where fellow employees share their total Pandora listening hours for the week, and let’s just say, any one of our analysts would be top contenders if it included our work-listening. This might sound like bragging, but no more so than a dentist telling you they see a lot of teeth.
The long and short of having all that music pass between your ears, is that you might occasionally spot certain trends as they emerge in real time. One of our analysts, Hannah Glass, sensed a pattern developing among some recent hits.
See if you can identify what Hannah noticed these three tracks having in common?
If you guessed sampling, well, we’re impressed. Watch your mailbox for a commemorative Honorary Music Analyst iron-on! (not really, sorry).
Hannah was curious to see how pervasive this trend might be, so she checked out some charts around the stream-o-sphere and discovered that nearly every track on the Soundcloud All Music charts contained samples. More of the same over on Spotify and Tik/Tok. Some tracks, like the Doechii example above, feature samples of tracks that themselves are built on a sample. Samples stacked on samples.
Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye
When I spoke to Hannah, she pointed out that, “sampling is something you expect to see in rap, but now it’s everywhere. Like trap drums. I remember way back when Britney Spears and Muse started using dub step. That’s when you knew it was a thing.”
Hold It Against Me by Britney Spears
The 2nd Law: Unsustainable by Muse
The more Hannah looked for sampling, the more she found it.
#1 Soundcloud Hip Hop chart: MulaManDam - The Answer
#4 Soundcloud Electronic John Summit, Delirium - Silence
#4 Spotify Pop Hits: Sombr - Back to Friends
Even The Cure is jumping on the bandwagon:
All I Ever Am by The Cure and Mura Masa
While it’s beyond the scope of Music Analysis to determine why this might be, it is fascinating to think about the cause. Obviously, using an already recognizable hook gives you a head start on catching people’s attention, but not all samples are taken from popular back catalogs. And while widely available digital tools make isolating and transforming already recorded material just a few clicks away, the same can be said for generating new sounds with those equally accessible tools.
We had an interesting conversation at our department meeting about the possible reasons for the uptick in sampling when Hannah presented her observations to the team, but we’d be super curious to hear you weigh in on why this might be happening! Looking forward to your thoughts.
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