#13 - Songwriters get much of the money they earn from their

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[lathlee]

Hi. I guess C) is a combination answer, but I don't see facts adding up to deduce c) as the correct answer. I could see how E) would be correct answer using all the facts,

[nrpandolfo]

Can you also explain why D is incorrect? If they don't want to have their songs for movies because there is a possibility that it would become a hit, then it seems that they would prefer the possibility of the 1000 radio plays rather than up front payment?

[harvoolio]

I missed this while taking the PrepTest but now see the phrase "because although such (movie) songs frequently become hits .." can be combined with "a hit song is played thousands of times".

I am horrible at MBT questions. Would you agree that one of the most minimal answers is correct more often not and I should at least begin with the answer choices with "some" and if time-constrained guess those?

Thanks.

[Alex Bodaken]

Hey All,

Let me try to address the various concerns and questions raised here.

Let's start with why answer choice (C) is correct. It reads: "Some songs written for movie sound tracks are played on the radio thousands of times." This is true (as harvoolio notes) due to the combination of two given facts in the stimulus: that "such songs (meaning written for movie sound tracks) frequently become hits" and "a hit song is played thousands of times." If songs written for movie sound tracks frequently become hits, and all hits are played on the radio thousands of times, it must be true that some songs written for movie sound tracks (the ones that are hits) are played on the radio thousands of times. This is what answer choice (C) says, making it credited.

Now let's move on to why (D) and (E) are incorrect. Starting with (D), it reads: "Most songwriters prefer the possibility of continued income to single up-front payments for their songs." This connects to the fact given in the stimulus that says that many writers of hit songs decline to write for movie sound tracks because they receive single up-front payments rather than continued revenues from radio airplay. This fact tells us that some songwriters prefer continued revenues to single payments, but it does not tell us that most songwriters feel this way; we have no way of knowing what percentage of songwriters feel this way. That distinction is enough to make (D) an incorrect answer choice.

Answer choice (E) reads: "Some songwriters earn money solely from the radio airplay of their songs." This answer choice connects to the first fact given in the stimulus that reads "Songwriters get much of the money they earn from their songs from radio airplay." However, answer choice (E) is a gross overstatement of this fact; we know that songwriters get a lot of their money from radio airplay, but we don't know if any of them get all of their money from radio airplay. The word "solely" in this answer choice, therefore, disqualifies it from being correct.

Finally, harvoolio, I'm not sure that I would agree that the more minimal answers are more likely to be right, but what I would agree on is that those answers will be easier to verify or disprove. So, as you are going through MBT questions, I think it is a good strategy to look for more minimal answer choices and then try to eliminate or verify them as correct, hoping to avoid or at least delay having to deal with the more complex answer choices. See if that helps you attack MBT question at least a bit.

Hope all that helps!
Alex

[cornflakes]

Hi Powerscore,

The key distinction that led me away from C (and that was not discussed in the rationale) was "ON THE RADIO thousands of times" - this is a must be true question, not "most strongly supports, etc" - so the answer we select must be absolutely 100% correct without any doubt.

The relevant facts of the stimulus combine as follows:

1. "A hit song is played thousands of times and the songwriter is paid for each play"
2. "writers of hit songs are often asked to write songs for movie soundtracks, but they sometimes decline, because although such songs frequently become hits, their writers receive single up front payments rather than continued revenues from radio airplay"

C: "some songs written for movie soundtracks are played on the radio thousands of times" - We do know that songs written for movie soundtracks frequently become "hits" - therefore, we know that some songs written for movie soundtracks are played thousands of times - the problem is we do not know WHERE, or WHAT MEDIUM they are played through without making assumptions. This is the issue with C - it makes us ask "so if we know a hit song is played thousands of times, must that song or those songs be played on the radio? Could it be they were streamed through a plethora of other digital devices? It's uncertain - which is death in must be true. There is no connection to "on the radio" that doesn't require an assumption.

E: "Some songwriters earn money solely from the radio airplay of their songs" - clearly, E also forces one to make an assumption. On this one, you would start by thinking about the some writers who decline to write songs for soundtracks due to the payment structure - their declining a revenue source that is not radio airplay moves you closer to them only earning money through radio airplay, but it does require more assumptions. It requires you to assume they don't earn money through other revenue sources outside of these movie soundtracks, and in turn that those possible other revenue sources, if they did exist, compensated via radio airplay.

Therefore, in my analysis, this seems like a problem where you have to rank which answers requires a less strong assumption or set of assumptions. Obviously, this is not how must be true works - so I must be missing something on C. I would appreciate anyones explanation. Thanks.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Cornflakes,

We use the language in the stimulus to know that they are talking about radio play. The first sentence and the last sentence clarify that by "play" they mean "radio airplay." It's the context given in the stimulus for the uses of the term "play" through the rest of the stimulus. We want to use the information in the stimulus to guide our understanding of words that could have different meanings.

Answer choice (E) does not have support in the language of the stimulus. It doesn't have to be true that there are any songwriters that rely solely on radio airplay. We can't point to language to support this, like we can with answer choice (C) above.

Hope that helps!

[lounalola]

Would it be a good idea to diagram this stimulus? If so, could someone show how it should be diagramed?

[Adam Tyson]

You could do some diagramming here, lounalola, and it might help!

A hit song is played (on the radio) thousands of times: Hit Played Thousands of Times

such songs (written for movies) frequently become hits: Movie Songs Hit

And from there you can make the link that leads you to the correct answer:

Movie Songs Hit Played Thousands of Times

Therefore, at least some songs written for movies are played (on the radio) thousands of times!