Song meant to spoof car audio systems climbs into top 50 on Apple's iTunes charts
A track consisting of nothing but 9 minutes and 58 seconds of silence is currently sitting at 49th place in Apple’s iTunes charts, apparently out of frustration with the way many car audio systems work.
Called “A a a a a Very Good Song,” the 99-cent track —released by Samir Mezrahi on Wednesday —copes with the fact that many audio systems will simply play tracks in alphabetical order whenever an iPhone connects via USB. With a regular music library this can be annoying, since the same song will play automatically until a person can select their own playlist.
The issue is unlikely to affect people who connect via Bluetooth or CarPlay, or who depend solely on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
The track’s popularity may be a sign that many people are not only using USB in their vehicles but still relying on locally-stored music. iTunes sales have been on the decline for several years with the rise of streaming —but the Mac and Windows iTunes clients also let people import files from third-party sources, whether legal or otherwise.
Indeed the same effect as Mezrahi’s song can be achieved for free by recording a silent track, properly naming and importing it, and then syncing with an iPhone.
The Mezrahi track is performing so well that it’s beating out songs by well-established pop artists like Macklemore, Bruno Mars, and Selena Gomez.