PrepTest 149, Section 1, Question 13
Songwriters get much of the money they earn(77 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(9 more words not shown)
- AAny songwriter who(10 more words not shown)
- BAll songwriters who(17 more words not shown)
- CSome songs written(12 more words not shown)
- DMost songwriters prefer(12 more words not shown)
- ESome songwriters earn(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A song can be a huge hit without giving its writer a stream of radio payments.
That's the tradeoff with these movie songs: the writer receives a single payment up front instead of continued airplay revenue. I can see why an established hit writer might turn down that arrangement, even though a movie song could become another hit. The chance of success and the way the writer gets paid are separate things.
What we’re looking for
We're asked what must follow from the facts. I don't have one particular conclusion in mind yet. Let's test the answers against the stated rules, keeping the frequency claims and the payment arrangements straight.
Working the answers
- A
A non-hit song could still receive some radio play and earn its writer money. The passage says hits get thousands of plays, not that only hits get any plays or any revenue. A adds a requirement that the passage never gives us.
- B
Successful writers are often asked to write movie songs, but that doesn't establish that every movie songwriter already has a hit. Imagine a small film hiring an unknown writer whose work has hardly been played. Nothing here rules that out. Also, movie songs frequently become hits; they aren't guaranteed to do so.
- CCorrect
Connect two statements: movie soundtrack songs frequently become hits, and a hit is played on the radio thousands of times. So some movie soundtrack songs get those thousands of plays. Their writers receiving a single up-front payment doesn't stop the songs from being played; it changes how the writers are paid for them.
- D
Some hit writers sometimes turn down movie work because of the payment arrangement. That doesn't tell us what most songwriters prefer. We don't know how common the preference is across all writers, including the many who have never written a hit.
- E
Getting much of one's song income from airplay doesn't mean getting all one's income that way. Every songwriter described could also receive money from some other source. Someone might live solely on radio payments, but the passage doesn't establish that anyone does.
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