full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Björn Ulvaeus: How music streaming transformed songwriting

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I was deliriously happy when I had finished. At that moment, I was grateful for music itself, for the sheer esinecxte of this elusive, undefinable pnmenooehn that seems to inogre our brains and go straight to our hearts. I wanted to sing it out loud, but it was two o'clock in the moirnng, and even in my euphoria, I had the good snsee not to wake the woman who was to sing my words the next day.

If bnney Andersson and I had written that song today, you might not have gotten to hear it. It could have been just another lost draem, [one of] about 80,000 new songs ueolpadd to streaming services every single day. The ctepomitoin today is fierce, much fiercer than it was back in 1977. And even if our song had been clicked very often by Spotify subscribers, chances are slim that the royalties would have paid anyone's rent. So what I want to talk to you about today is how I see the changes in the song emnoocy using my perspective of what it was like to be a songwriter when the music industry was simpler and perhaps more predictable.

Open Cloze


I was deliriously happy when I had finished. At that moment, I was grateful for music itself, for the sheer _________ of this elusive, undefinable __________ that seems to ______ our brains and go straight to our hearts. I wanted to sing it out loud, but it was two o'clock in the _______, and even in my euphoria, I had the good _____ not to wake the woman who was to sing my words the next day.

If _____ Andersson and I had written that song today, you might not have gotten to hear it. It could have been just another lost _____, [one of] about 80,000 new songs ________ to streaming services every single day. The ___________ today is fierce, much fiercer than it was back in 1977. And even if our song had been clicked very often by Spotify subscribers, chances are slim that the royalties would have paid anyone's rent. So what I want to talk to you about today is how I see the changes in the song _______ using my perspective of what it was like to be a songwriter when the music industry was simpler and perhaps more predictable.

Solution


  1. benny
  2. uploaded
  3. phenomenon
  4. competition
  5. economy
  6. existence
  7. dream
  8. ignore
  9. morning
  10. sense

Original Text


I was deliriously happy when I had finished. At that moment, I was grateful for music itself, for the sheer existence of this elusive, undefinable phenomenon that seems to ignore our brains and go straight to our hearts. I wanted to sing it out loud, but it was two o'clock in the morning, and even in my euphoria, I had the good sense not to wake the woman who was to sing my words the next day.

If Benny Andersson and I had written that song today, you might not have gotten to hear it. It could have been just another lost dream, [one of] about 80,000 new songs uploaded to streaming services every single day. The competition today is fierce, much fiercer than it was back in 1977. And even if our song had been clicked very often by Spotify subscribers, chances are slim that the royalties would have paid anyone's rent. So what I want to talk to you about today is how I see the changes in the song economy using my perspective of what it was like to be a songwriter when the music industry was simpler and perhaps more predictable.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
streaming services 7
song economy 3
music industry 3
streaming service 3
unintended consequences 2
royalties suddenly 2
arne jansen 2
relevant information 2
raise awareness 2


Important Words


  1. andersson
  2. benny
  3. brains
  4. chances
  5. clicked
  6. competition
  7. day
  8. deliriously
  9. dream
  10. economy
  11. elusive
  12. euphoria
  13. existence
  14. fierce
  15. fiercer
  16. finished
  17. good
  18. grateful
  19. happy
  20. hear
  21. hearts
  22. ignore
  23. industry
  24. lost
  25. loud
  26. moment
  27. morning
  28. music
  29. paid
  30. perspective
  31. phenomenon
  32. predictable
  33. rent
  34. royalties
  35. sense
  36. services
  37. sheer
  38. simpler
  39. sing
  40. single
  41. slim
  42. song
  43. songs
  44. songwriter
  45. spotify
  46. straight
  47. streaming
  48. subscribers
  49. talk
  50. today
  51. undefinable
  52. uploaded
  53. wake
  54. wanted
  55. woman
  56. words
  57. written