How Artists Can Benefit From Data Provided by Platforms

This year, the music streaming platform TIDAL introduced a new feature to help artists better understand their fanbase. By providing them with data, musicians can look into where their listeners come from, how old they are, or what their top tracks are.

Other platforms have already integrated even more detailed data-related tools. For example, the paid version of SoundCloud offers profound insight into demographics, amount of clicks per song, and an overview of how many people listened to your music in total, among other things.

Data can be a valuable tool for artists to make better marketing-related decisions. While it can teach you a lot about your audience, it can also help you understand whether your strategies are leading to the results you have set as your goal. In this way, you can decide which ones to pursue and which to abandon.

Data on where your fans live can help you understand where to boost your ads or plan your upcoming shows. It can also be useful when reaching out to bookers, promoters, and venues to prove that people will come to your concerts. Additionally, you can find out which cities work best for collaborating with other artists to expand your potential outreach.

Insight into which songs your audience likes the most can help you understand what sound and topics they tend to gravitate towards and which ones they like less. You can use this information to boost your top tracks and create more songs that will resonate with your fans, which increases the potential for one of them to go viral.

Statistics on age can tell you a lot about your fans, including what apps you should use to reach out to them. For example, according to Hootsuite, “69.1% of global Instagram users are under the age of 35” and “62% of teens in the U.S. use Instagram.” Meanwhile, “67% of Americans aged 18 to 19 use TikTok, along with 56% of those aged 20 to 29. Of Americans aged 60 to 64, 16% use the platform.” Since different generations share different values and engage in different trends, knowing who your fans are can help you communicate with them in a more accessible way and reach them on the right platforms.

YouTube data related to watch time can also be extremely helpful to understand how engaged and interested your audience actually is, and which videos they consider interesting enough to stick around. Lastly, you can use the collected data to reach out to potential sponsors and other funding sources. In this context, sound numbers can serve as proof that thanks to your popularity, you’re a good investment that comes with much potential.

Stats can also be useful for ads. For example, you can use analytics to help determine which ads best resonate with your target audience. Data in this respect can also be useful for determining what aspects of the sponsored content are engaging versus what isn't.