Goal: Get your First Hit + 5 Sustained Hits = HITMAKER!
Stage 1: The Breakthrough Choose the novelty and variety of your song portfolio each year as you pursue your first Top 100 hit. You have 20 years.
Stage 2: Sustaining Success Your portfolio is locked. Choose relatedness for each new song while the market evolves. Your early choices determine your adaptability!
Hitmaker Challenge
1
→
2
0
Year
0
Total Songs
No
Initial Hit?
0
Sustained Hits
Total Hits: 0/6
0%
Mode: Realistic
Stage 1: The Breakthrough
Choose your creative strategy for this year's songs. Each year = 12 songs. Aim for your first Top 100 hit!
Let's get started! Choose your novelty and variety for Year 1.
Novelty
?
How unique your songs are vs. current hits. Lower novelty (typical sound) helps initial success but may limit adaptability. Higher novelty is riskier initially but builds flexibility for later. (0 = Typical, 100 = Highly Novel)
50
Variety
?
How different your songs are from each other. Higher variety helps both initial and sustained success by providing more creative pathways. (0 = Similar, 100 = Highly Varied)
50
Stage 2: Sustaining Success
Your initial hit portfolio is locked! Choose relatedness for each new song as the market keeps evolving.
Pre-Novelty--
Pre-Variety--
Choose relatedness and release your next song!
Relatedness
?
How similar this new song is to your initial hit portfolio. Higher relatedness helps sustained success by building on what worked. Balance this with market changes! (0 = Unrelated, 100 = Highly Related)
50
Your Song Portfolio
Market Trend
Novelty = color (distance from market). Variety = shape diversity.
Post-Hit Songs
Relatedness = similarity to initial portfolio.
First Hit Achieved!
Congratulations, Artist! You scored your breakthrough hit in Year 1!
Your initial hit portfolio is now locked:
Pre-Novelty: 50 | Pre-Variety: 50
This determines your adaptability to ongoing market changes!
Now enter Stage 2. Aim for 5 more hits by choosing the relatedness of each new song to your initial portfolio.
Artist's Career Summary
Outcome
0/ 1000
Mode
--
Total Years
0
Initial Hit
--
Pre-Novelty
--
Pre-Variety
--
Adaptability
--
Total Hits
0 (out of 0 songs)
Success requires both strategy and luck. Play again to see how different choices affect your career!
How to Play
Goal
Become a Hitmaker by achieving 1 initial hit + 5 sustained hits (6 total).
Stage 1: The Breakthrough
Choose Novelty (how unique vs. typical) and Variety (how diverse) your songs are each year. You release 12 songs per year. Lower novelty helps get the first hit, but higher novelty and variety build adaptability for later. You have up to 20 years.
Stage 2: Sustaining Success
Your portfolio is locked. Choose Relatedness for each new song (how similar to your initial hit portfolio). Higher relatedness generally helps, but the market keeps changing. Your adaptability (from Stage 1 choices) determines how well you cope with market evolution. You have 50 songs to get 5 more hits.
The Science Behind It
This simulation is based on research studying over 3 million songs by 69,050 artists in the U.S. music industry (1959-2010). The key finding: what helps you get your first hit (being typical) can actually hurt your chances of sustained success. Artists with more novel and varied early portfolios are better positioned to adapt when markets change.