Have you ever wondered how hit records become hits, and why you hear them on the radio all the time?

In this article for TheAtlantic.com called “The Shazam Effect”, Derek Thompson wrote about how the music industry is turning to big data to determine what music people like and how to give them more of it. Every time we Shazam a song or stream a song on Spotify, Rdio, YouTube, etc., we give the music industry data on what we want to hear.

So what would happen if we all Shazam'ed a song at once? If the music biz has become merely a big computer, can that computer be hacked?

Let's find out! Everyone watch the video below, Shazam this song, then send it to all your friends and ask them to do the same. Let's all get a better understand at what the music biz has become here in the 21st century — and how we might be able to impact it.

Links to the song in the video:

Spotify | Rdio | SoundCloud | Google Music | iTunes | Amazon