Song Product Characteristics and Music Commercial Performance

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the time-related factor known as tempo, the pitch-related factor known as song key, and the texture-related factor reflected by genre influence a song's commercial performance. The authors utilise Poisson and ordinal regression analyses across two samples to test the influences of tempo, song key, and genre on commercial performance. Sample 1 is composed of the #1 songs from 1958 until 2015, and sample 2 is composed of the top 100 songs of 2012 and 2013 in the United States. Results of the regression analyses indicate that song key and genre influence different aspects of performance. The findings of this research provide implications to music managers faced with the decision to select a song to promote for an artist or album. Specifically, this research indicates that managers seeking to select singles to promote for an artist or album should consider song product characteristics that may influence commercial success.