#288: Manufacturing The Song Of The Summer *

On today's show, we tell the story of a secret battle that's been going on for more than a year: Creating the song of the summer, the music industry's holy grail.

Our case study is Rihanna's "Man Down." The story starts in the spring of 2010, when Rihanna's label flies in songwriters and producers from around the company for a "writing camp" — a pop-up version of the old hit factories that churned out pop tunes.

Writing camp is expensive. But the real money doesn't start flowing until after the song is done.

*Correction: An earlier version of this podcast used the incorrect version of Jennifer Lopez's, "I'm Real."