What is a "Smash"?
Prompted by a discussion with Joe Taylor after he described the Sandi Thom track as a smash and I went "No, it's just a UK hit"... what is a smash?
Knowing how easy it is for a major label to buy a high UK chart position (even a Number One on a good week) and knowing how few actual copies/downloads can give you a Top Ten hit, I reckon the use of the term "Smash" - even "Hit" - has been diluted.
Financially, being blinded from the truth and fooled by industry acclaim, someone can go bust buying chart positions. Often a "smash" doesn't even cover recording costs, let alone promotion, marketing and hyping costs.
A SMASH to me is a genuine, global world wide hit, like it or not.
Who Let The Dogs Out? was a smash. It sold millions and is chanted in Asia as well as America.
Una Paloma Blanca was a smash and was chosen by Gary Gilmore as the track he wanted to hear when he was cruelly executed (can you believe they still practice this barbaric act in America today?).
Crazy is a smash; even though it's not yet been a hit everywhere, it will be.
Two Little Boys and Tears were UK Number Ones but they weren't smashes - all those years ago.
This sounds like unimportant semantics but it's not.
You can devote your life to squeezing hit status out of flops if you don't concentrate on smashes.

Million dollar question JK. A smash is a hit that exceeds all expectations, takes people by surprise and requires little "selling". It's that record that grows on you in seconds even if you hate it. Of course it will sell by the buckets.

'Who let the dogs out' is a very good example and i remember in 93, 94 and 95 dancing along to the soca version at carnival. Well done JK for spotting that it was a smash waiting to happen, but if you been to carnival and were a music exec shame on you ! That song will be a hit a million times it gets released. That is a smash.

As for future smashes JK i think seriously you should pass on tips on how to spot these tracks because a lot in the a&r community, and this is no disrespect to them, can't spot a smash if it landed on their doorstep. I honestly cannot blame them because of how creating a hit works.

It is for this reason that i believe sites like myspace, mp3.com and similar sites MUST be set up by the industry as a means of allowing these tracks to be created without pressure by artists, listened to at leisure by the fans and then cherry picked by the industry to take to the mainstream.

There must be major changes if the recording industry is to survive the next decade. Can someone put together a conference where all involved in music
artists, managers, labels, websites and media sit down round a table and work this out.

Of course Jonathan that's the 64 billion dollar question. I for one would dearly love to experience it - My label releases tons of recordings and sells a bit but not a lot. One regional hit in 95 and lot's of licensing through the nineties with a variety of titles but still no real hits.

Today my focus as an independent label is selling
to consumers through iTunes Music Store which I really do think is fantastic and a labels and artist best friend - plus selling over some other online and telephone ringtone providers.

So far iTunes Music Store is by far the best and their accounting is superb.

A smash to me is an airplay hit that gets played
because the record is just so damn good.

Of course getting airplay is a tricky thing
in this day and age unless you're a priority artist
with a deep pocket major label.

Many hits happen because they work in the dance music market and then cross over into the mainstream.

The way the dance music market works is through DJ networking - you really do need the DJ's on side to crack this market - but if you do score a club hit then you have the power to move on over into
the main market and enjoy hit radio airplay and
retail positioning.

To many small labels a smash is something that sells over 500 units a month - or over 1500 units .. because most tracks are lucky to sell
quantities like 50 units.

However, having said that, I still believe that luck can be on your side and that a hit can spring virtually out of nowhere and go on to sell thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

All I need to do is work out how to join the dots !!!

KOH RoKs,

David.

I often use the clunky phrase "genuinely popular hit"... but smash is what it is.

The chart place of a smash is a side-effect, although it is normally high. Otherwise you simply have the dreaded "turntable hit".

I'd say Wonderwall (a song I don't much like) was a smash... because everybody knows it, the kids still sing it (with entertaining new words) and you don't have to watch TOTP to know it was a hit.

We don't see very many these days.

(Your last sentence is a stormer JK!)

I Believe I Can Fly was a smash.
They come along quite rarely; sometimes with stars attached; usually not.
The biggest smashes are often one hit wonders.
Though Chumbawamba would have had two more smashes (Ugly Houses and Homophobia) if anarchist greed hadn't kicked in.

I'm not in love by 10cc.
Will they be playing Sandi Thom in 35 years I wonder?