How do you make a song into a global smash hit that is guaranteed to make millions?

Read The Song Machine and find out!


From Tin Pan Alley and Motown to Rihanna and Taylor Swift, manufactured music has existed since the record industry began.

But who are the hit-manufacturers that can create a tune that is so catchy, so wildly addictive, that it sticks in the minds of millions of listeners?


In The Song Machine, John Seabrook dissects the workings of this machine, travelling the world to reveal its hidden formulas, and interview its geniuses – ‘the hitmakers’ – at the centre of it all. Hilarious and jaw-droppingly shocking, this book will change how you think and feel about music, as well as how you listen to it.

‘Revelatory, funny, and full of almost unbelievable details’, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

‘As addictive as its subject’ Sunday Times