Guess the artist, win five dollars. Whether you're a random person on the streets of New York, an A-list celebrity, or the sitting vice president of the United States, that's the plot behind one of the funniest music shows on social media. You show up, get some headphones and a microphone, and expect to know what song is playing.
The show is called tracking starand is presented by Jack Coyne. In this episode of The VergecastThe first of our three-part miniseries about the future of music, Coyne joins the show to tell the story of tracking star.
We talked about the beginnings of the show as a trivia show about New York called Public opinionhow Coyne and his co-creators figured out the structure and pacing of the show, how he thinks about his role as host, and why a bevy of famous people started clamoring to be on the show. Coyne never expected tracking star feature people like Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo, Jack Antonoff, Nelly Furtado, Kamala Harris and Oprah, but it happened. And surprisingly, it didn't change the show at all.
We also delve into why a program like Track Star works and why it's important in today's music landscape. Coyne and his team also have big plans to expand the franchise and see a place for Track Star even in an online world that's already overloaded with things to listen to. If you start with music, conversation, and a decent playlist, there are plenty of places you can go.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:
