The Five Rules of Flow - Rule Four

Flow.

Every successful radio station has it. But there are far more mediocre stations that are constructed and operated according to a winning formula, and yet, they're missing this crucial ingredient. And because of that, they awkwardly bump into a glass ceiling despite their greatest efforts.

Flow is paramount. If your station has it, people will be drawn to the sound of your station in an unconscious, irresistible way. If you don't, your listeners won't be thrilled with your product, and there's no perceptual question in the world that will help them put their finger on the reason why. Station programmers and managers that are ignorant of Flow have a potentially fatal blind spot. Flow is the vital element, the key aspect that always stands backstage, and yet is the puppet-master that pulls the strings of everything the listener feels.

For audio, a good working-definition is that Flow is the multi-layered sense of satisfaction that comes from listening to a series of sonic elements that are progressively more satisfying the longer you listen.

I've proposed in this self-indulgent, drawn-out series of articles that Flow is essentially governed by five universal Rules. Today, we'll look at Rule Four, which is perhaps the most fascinating, and certainly least recognized of all.

First, a quick refresher:

THE RULES OF FLOW

• THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE HEARING RIGHT NOW ARE INFLUENCED BY THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST HEARD.
• THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST HEARD ARE INFLUENCED BY THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE HEARING RIGHT NOW.
• THE ENTIRETY OF THE STATION'S CORE SOUND SHOULD BE ACCESSABLE WITHIN THE AVERAGE LISTENING OCCASION.

And now, Rule Four:

• THE HUMAN BRAIN IS WIRED TO DELIGHT IN FAMILIAR NOVELTY. IF YOU'RE GIVEN WHAT YOU KNOW AND LOVE IN A NEW WAY THAT THRILLS YOU, YOU WILL COME BACK FOR MORE.

Much has been written in radio about the power of familiarity. And much has been written in marketing about the power of novelty. But for your station to really Flow, you need to embrace both familiarity and novelty together.

In western music, there are only 12 notes. But if you put these 12 notes in a random order, you won't get a great song, right? Of course not, because listening to musical notes in the wrong order creates dissonance in the brain. Conversely, there are certain patterns of these notes that feel right to us. They make sense. They 'resolve' each other, in musical terms. If you learn to play an instrument, it doesn't take long to realize that you can play literally hundreds of songs with the same simple 5-chord progression. What's going on here?

Thankfully, we live in the age of the Wonder Machine, the fMRI. We can look inside your brain! And researchers have found that, yes, pleasurable music lights up the parts of our brain that process pleasure (how 'bout that! Here's the research). In fact, some research points to a neural signature that could predict which songs become hits (take a look).

But what is pleasurable music, exactly? Well, the record industry has spent plenty of money and time looking into that, too, and here's what they've found: If you play an unfamiliar rock song for a self-professed rock fan, they will like it okay, but not as much as a rock song that they already know (check it out here). The same study found that simple, predictable melodies tend to be more enjoyable than complex, unusual ones. (Try it yourself! Go listen to Clean Bandit's 'New Eyes' on Youtube. It's an example of a truly dissonant, complex melody. Do your best to sing along.)

Familiarity is so interconnected with pleasurable music that pop music exists in cycles where it gradually becomes more and more simple and formulaic over time (more research!) before finally breaking out into novelty again. This is why Guy Zapoleon's Music Cycle Theory is so accurate. We need both familiarity and novelty. Once a particular musical style is very popular, it becomes formulaic as record labels try to maximize profits by producing similar songs with fewer resources and less risk. This actually works just fine, because people love familiarity. But only up to a point; eventually the sparse musical landscape feels bleak, and the listener is again drawn to novelty.

However, even this Music Cycle has become less dynamic over the years. In general, hit songs today are simply less complex than hit records from a few decades ago (research!). The music industry has gotten better at leveraging the predictable.

Just as familiarity is a well-discussed aspect of great radio, in marketing circles you'll see plenty of research on novelty. Roy Williams, the 'Wizard of Ads' (you are required by law to include his nickname when you mention him in print) talks about the Broca's area being a crucial part of how your brain processes novelty. He posits that to cut through the clutter of daily life, a great marketer must 'shock the Broca'. But keep in mind that people don't listen to advertisements for pleasure like they do music. Your Broca doesn't really like to be 'shocked' all the time. It also matters that the Broca's area of the brain is strongly linked to how we process verbal language, which is a very different thing than processing music.

You need both familiarity and novelty for Flow. Electronic music artists understand this, and they know how to remix their audience's favorite songs in a new way that delights them. It's why your favorite movie has a sequel. It's why Richard Cheese has a music career. It's why the 2019 Ford Mustang has a recognizable body shape, even though it's a new design. It's why Taco Bell figured out how to use meat, cheese and tortillas to create roughly 500,000 different menu items. We love to experience familiar things in new ways.

This is why a great song uses the same old 12 notes, arranged in one of the dozen or so most common progressions in western music. It uses the same melodies we know and love, but these melodies are layered and produced in a new way that delights us.

Your radio station should do the same thing. When a traffic update manages to include a genuine, heartfelt 'thank you' to donors for their support of a station that's working hard to keep you safe, it's familiar novelty. When two high-testing songs sharing the same musical key play back-to-back and just seem to melt into each other with no transition, it's familiar novelty. When your radio station delivers exactly what the listener expects in a way that they couldn't possibly predict, that's familiar novelty. It's crucial to Flow. It's also the hardest Rule of Flow to follow, because by definition it cannot be automated or turned into a formula. It requires real creativity, inspiration and risk. I can't tell you what familiar novelty looks or sounds like for your station. That's the point.

I can tell you this, though. Familiar novelty is one of your biggest advantages over playlists curated by artificial intelligence. Only a human being can apply a human touch, and that's what familiar novelty requires. For now, only a human can predict that something unpredictable will be met with delight by other humans.

Ultimately, that's why we must be students of Flow. The traditional model of music radio is being changed, and possibly replaced. Artificial intelligence doesn't need to spend thousands on an auditorium music test. It can analyze an individual's listening history and use it to create playlists customized for that individual. That's familiarity. It can also deliver new music faster and more directly than radio, which is novelty. What it cannot do is create a continuous listening experience that becomes more delightful the longer you listen, because it does not grasp Flow. Yet.

Thankfully, in Christian radio, we don't rely on fMRI scans, musical formulas, or computer algorithms. More than any other format, we can be bold with creativity, inspiration and risk, because our connection to our audience goes well beyond musical taste. You have an other-worldly connection with your audience, sharing spiritual values and experiences that are framed and articulated by the music. You have access to the same Holy Spirit that's living inside your listeners. So be human. Be bold. Be novel. And be predictable. 😊