Written by: Dakota Anderson
Have you ever wondered how the Billboard charts work? Or how our streaming data affects the way our favorite artists sit on the charts?
The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that measures the top 100 songs of that week. It's something that is so crucial to the music we love and the industry it is in, but very few actually understand what is happening behind the scenes of the charts. The Hot 100 is based off of three different forms of data: sales, streaming and radio play. Billboard collects all of this data and releases the chart once a week, every Monday.
New this year, is the implementation of weighting those different forms of data differently, so that they do not all affect the charting the same way. According to Bobby Owinski (2018), " The new chart criteria will add a new tier that will distinguish between paid and free on-demand streams, with paid on-demand carrying the greatest weight, free on-demand a somewhat lesser weight, and programmed the least weight." It makes sense that they implement this strategy because why would Pandora playing a song and you playing the song on Spotify equal the same thing? One is at random and the other is somebody actively seeking out the song. Makes sense, right?
This is a great showing of how big data is used in the music industry and why it is important. Music labels can use this information data to see how an artist is performing and resonating with the public. It can help them take action with what is working and what isn't working in the marketing and promotion of the music.
Since the birth of the charts, we have seen them evolve and incorporate new data in new ways to keep up with our changing society. I wouldn't be surprised if in 20 years, the way the streaming and other forms of data affect the chart will be far different from today.
Comments
Post a Comment