Whatever the merits of “Set Fire to the Rain” as a song—honestly, to me, it’s one of the middling tracks on Adele’s album—it’s fascinating as a chart phenomenon, the culmination of the evolution of pop promotion in the post-single, post-digital era. For nearly a year, all the songs on 21 were laid out like a buffet for listeners. About 700,000 of them gravitated toward “Set Fire” with no outside prodding (not even a cover from the Adele-happy cast of Glee). The label listened and promoted accordingly. Arguably, it’s the first focus-grouped No. 1 song.
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Chris Molanphy, in the Village Voice, shows us what may be the next wave of major label song promotion.
11:34 am - 30 Jan 2012
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Filed under: #music #Adele
