about TMOM
(TMOM - The Metrics of Music)
John is in a cafe having breakfast and hears a song he likes on the speaker system. He thinks, “Shazam says it’s the new Zach Bryan. It’s pretty good; I’ll give it a ‘thumbs up’, add it to a couple of playlists and follow him. I could start a Zach playlist and see what else comes up. Maybe check out his social pages and follow him there, too. Some of his videos are great. I wonder if Zach will be coming to town for a concert.”
Those who work in the music industry know the importance of all the things on John’s mind. He’s not just reflecting on a song he’s heard, he’s responding to it. In the music business, John’s actions and impulses are all recognized as metrics – behavior in the form of indexes and statistics revealing important stories about how the artist and song are doing. Sometimes the data may even be predictive, whether they’re calculated by humans or AI. Today, nearly everything involving how consumers “engage” with artists and music is measurable, making music research a part of almost every role in the business.
Those employed in the music industry are generally divided into two main groups:
The first includes talent on the creative side: songwriters, composers and performing artists, as well as producers, engineers, those in mixing and mastering, instrument technicians and others. Additional creative people not directly involved in making music include photographers, graphic artists, art directors and stylists, among others.
The second encompasses those on the business side: professionals who work with creative people or among colleagues at record companies, digital service providers, music publishers, management firms, booking agencies, broadcasters and those in the fields of performing rights organizations, business/legal affairs, social media, touring, audio/video production, research and corporate marketing.
Most of those involved on either the creative or business side shoulder multiple or overlapping responsibilities, especially with artists at the developmental level.
What everyone has in common is the need for music research to understand and keep track of media exposure, consumer activity and income prospects. This data is important because the cost for successfully developing an artist for the long haul is considerable. Thankfully, the ever-changing music industry has more business intelligence at its fingertips than ever.
Long gone are the days when a consumer bought an album at a record shop and disappeared from view. Today, “dashboards” show which and when tracks are being listened to, if they’re heard from start to finish, whether people like them or not and for how long, if they’re shared, if other media influenced their “consumption” and how engaged they are.
The ability to track an artist’s progress at reaching an audience – from music discovery to engagement, from follower to fan to superfan – sets the wheels in motion for all kinds of business potential. If any part of your job or passion is to keep track of anything John is doing or thinking about, you are a music researcher.
Historically, the music business has always, at its heart, taken pride in its artistic instincts and having a great ear. Those qualities will always be prized. But increasingly, it’s data that is significantly influencing if not driving decisions on whether an artist gets signed, played on the radio (maybe for a month or maybe forever), picked up by streaming curators and algorithms, is able to tour strategically, generates an active following and ultimately, becomes successful.
Data offers defensive virtues, too, becoming increasingly valuable for detecting stream fraud, fake artists and the tracking of unauthorized use of artificial intelligence (AI) to appropriate songs, playlists and artistic individuality.
The purpose of The Metrics of Music: A Field Guide to Music Research is to familiarize you with the various types of media, tools of the trade and myriad ways creatives and industry pros use data, analytics and resources to study artistic performance and audience behavior to advance their priorities.
It’s called a “field guide” because The Metrics of Music intends to serve as a practical, everyday resource of how music/media businesses function. It also provides resources to learn more, track down information and make contacts. This is not a study in statistics, though there are many of them here. It’s also not heavily technical, such as how to code algorithms, but algorithms are discussed to show how music streaming and social media services work.
The Metrics of Music, which is published as a continually updated online textbook, helps you understand how music research plays a part in everyday practices, planning and decision making. There are 12 main sections: audio/radio; music streaming; social media; copyright and royalties; music licensing and sync; music analytics platforms (including a separate section on Chartmetric); airplay/music charts; audience research; touring; executive “PROfiles”; and resources and reference materials.
Click on any of the main navigation subjects to explore their related topics. Your feedback at the end of each section is welcome and encouraged.