Your social media data is being used to predict the next big thing in music

If data is power then your social media data is the mecca, giving power to industry.

It’s estimated that we produce more information every 60 seconds than what the whole human race was able to generate from 10 000 BC to 2000 CE. That takes big data to a whole new level.

Data mining is a common happening in today’s times with industry’s making use of what we put out and the music industry is no different.

Back in the old days such stats came from album sales and radio airplay. Those digits combined in creating a multitude of charts, which is how the industry kept score. It was a simple time indeed, which came to an end with the digital age.

Digital baby, information overload

With the rise of streaming and the digital era, the music industry is able to harness specific information with regards to listening habits including what songs they are listening to, where they are hearing it and how they are consuming it.

Pandora created the “Musical Genome”, an algorithm that sifts through information about the sound of a recording, for instance how loud the drumming is in comparison to the other elements.

This data is then put into a larger model which Pandora uses to help listeners find music with the similar sound (not necessarily genre) to what they previously enjoyed.

This new method of converting the ‘popularity’ of sounds to data can help industry predict what the next big hit, or sound, could be.

The interaction between the melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre and lyrics of popular songs hold the key to what works and what generates hits.

Together, with our social media data, we are giving the music industry all the information they need to give us the next big hits.

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