Não Jogue Fora Os Seus CD's Antes De Conhecer Este CD Player Da ROTEL

Don't Ditch Your CD Collection Until You've Given This Player From Rotel A Fair Hearing

The death of the humble CD has been greatly exaggerated in recent years. Soon the silver disc will celebrate its 40thanniversary and despite a gentle decline in sales, mostly thanks to streaming services and a revitalised vinyl market, the world’s first digital format is still selling well and consumers seem to like its permanence as well as the sound quality, which still knocks spots off MP3 files. It seems people still want to sit down and listen to a complete album, whether that be rock, opera or classical. Not everyone has succumbed to the lure of the random shuffle.

That said, the choice of CD separates isn't as extensive as it used to be but there is still a fair amount of choice from budget decks all the way up to the eye-wateringly expensive esoteric players to make this a competitive market. Basically, a CD player consists of two main components: a CD transport mechanism that spins the disc and uses a laser to read off the digital information encoded on it; and a Digital-to-Analog Convertor (DAC) which shapes that raw data into an analog waveform that can then be amplified and fed to a pair of speakers. The more expensive players use expensive and sophisticated DAC circuitry and are often powered by separate transformers in order to recreate a sound that’s pleasing to our ears. One of the reasons given for the resurgence in popularity of vinyl is that LPs give a warm analog sound that’s often missing from CD players that have to create a decent analog sound from the brutal rawness of ones and zeros.

Well if that is your experience of CD and you despair of ever listening to a CD player that can find the natural warmth that recorded music ought to capture, I think I may have found a solution. The Rotel RCD-1572 is a mid-price CD deck that, although quite a bit more expensive than the excellent Marantz CD6006 beloved by many hi-fi enthusiasts, has a great character that will breathe new life into your CD collection.

Rotel

The front of the RCD-1752 is a fairly plain design that belies the capability of this CD player.

The RCD-1572 is beautifully built and styled with rounded edges to match Rotel’s 15 series audio system that includes pre and power amplifiers. It’s a full width unit so will match your existing hi-fi and it’s available in both silver and black finishes. The player’s front is fairly plain with discreet rounded buttons and a blue scrolling LED display. The large power button is surrounded with a bright blue illuminated ring that you can turn down, thankfully. The same goes for the illuminated text display. I often enjoy listening to music in the dark and bright LED lights can be very distracting.

Rotel is a brand that’s been in existence for around 55 years and the company built its reputation on some excellent budget audio separates that became very popular in the 1980s along with the likes of NAD. Anyone starting out to build a decent hi-fi system was urged by audio magazines to consider Rotel separates at the heart of a decent budget system. Now Rotel is refashioning itself with the higher-end Rotel 15 series. The designers have concentrated on using premium components and the circuitry almost exclusively uses ‘through-the-hole’ componentry rather than the smaller surface-mounted components that many manufacturers use. This gives the designers far more options when choosing high-quality components like capacitors. The designers have also focused on oversized toroidal transformers to shield out interference and deliver clean and noise-free power to the circuitry.

At the heart of the RCD-1752 is a Wolfson WM8740 DAC offering 24-bit 192kHz support. However, the Rotel engineers have chosen to bypass the Wolfson’s internal low-pass filter in favour of a custom-designed filter of their own. The thinking behind this is to use the precision of the Wolfson DAC to get the maximum clarity from the data and then to use Rotel’s own filter to fashion the sound signature of the 1572 to match the Rotel sound delivered by the power and pre-amp units. Another reason for choosing the Wolfson DAC is the ability to offer both unbalanced RCA phono outputs as well as balanced XLR outputs. It’s all about choice and making a system that will adapt and offer more choices and pairing possibilities over its lifetime.

So how does this heavyweight beast sound once it’s hooked up? I didn’t get the opportunity to audition it with the other components of the Rotel system so I listened to it through my Linn Wakonda setup with its matching LK140 power amp and my trusty Mordaunt-Short M50s speakers. From the moment I pressed play the sound was strikingly warm and mellow. If you’ve ever shunned CD because of that harsh clinical sound of digital formats, the Rotel RCD-1572 will convince you that digital sources can be every bit as warm, inviting and yet clear as the very best analog sources you can find.

Using my current favourite test CD of Diana Krall’s ‘Turn Up The Quiet’, I could hear so much detail coming from the stand-up bass. Every slap of the strings and every breath taken by Ms Krall were beautifully reproduced. The luxuriating warm delivery just suits cool jazz sounds so well. The soundstage is impeccably reproduced and you can visualise every instrument right where it should be.

Rotel

The components selected for the RCD-1752 are high grade and powered by Rotel's own design of toroidal transformer.

The RCD-1572 may lack a little bit of attack but what it gives up in harshness it delivers in melodic rhythm that makes listening to music a genuine pleasure. It may not work quite so well on large orchestral pieces or heavy metal music because the delivery is a little laid back, but that suits my taste in music just fine. I auditioned the player over the Christmas holidays and almost everyone who heard it played remarked on its clarity and musicality. It’s rare that non-enthusiasts remark on my audio system, so when I do get compliments I know there’s something special about the piece of kit I’m testing at that time.

Verdict: The Rotel CD-1572 may not be the most exciting CD player in the world but for my taste in music it’s one of the best. I don’t particularly think its styling will win a lot of fans and it is a little on the plain side but shut your eyes and listen to its mellifluous tones and you really can’t help falling in love with its mellow tones. On the downside this player can’t handle SACD and the remote control is a little utilitarian, but for the money I think this is one of the best mid-range CD players I’ve heard in quite a while.

Prices: £849 / $899 / €999

• Total Harmonic Distortion (THD): 0.002% @ 1kHz
• Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz ±0.5dB
• S/N Ratio (IHF "A" Weighted): >118dB
• Dynamic Range: >99dB
• Digital To Analog Converter: Wolfson WM8740 24-bit/192kHz
• Channel Balance: ±0.5dB
• Channel Separation: >115dB @ 10kHz
• Dimensions: (W × H × D): 431 × 104 × 320mm / 17" × 4" × 12.6"
• Front Panel Height: 2U / 88.1mm (3.5")
• Power Consumption:15W
• Standby Power Consumption: <0.5W
• Weight: 6.7kg (15lbs.)
• Output Levels:
• Unbalanced (RCA): 2.2V
• Balanced (XLR): 4.4V
• Digital (Coax): 0.5V
• Output Impedance:
• Unbalanced (RCA): 100Ω
• Balanced (XLR): 200Ω
• Digital (Coax): 75Ω

Dicas Para Criar Novos Hábitos Para Compor Musicas Em 2018

Tips for Creating New Songwriting Habits in the New Year

Want to start the new year by injecting new life into your old songwriting regimen? Here we offer a brief collection of suggestions for addressing studio habits that can hinder the creative process, from trying new or “found” sounds/instrumentation, to working with loops and more.

Play something different. It can be difficult to find new songwriting avenues when your recording foundation always features the same ingredients—acoustic guitar, another acoustic guitar, obligatory bass and percussion on top. Hence the importance of working with “non-native” instruments from time to time—if you’re a folkie, for instance, experimenting with something radical like a synth or sequencer can help you break out of the six-string habit (or if you only work “in the box,” the opposite holds true). Even something as simple as using a bass as the focal point (as opposed to guitar or keyboard) can work wonders, since it puts the emphasis on the melody rather than the chord progression.

Learning to love loops. While it’s no secret that looped rhythms and riffs can result in some tasty song hooks (as a few decades worth of hip-hop hits have proven), luddite tunesmiths in particular often keep this methodology at arm’s length. Here again is where it pays to step out of your safety zone: using a garden-variety editing tool, you can quickly craft any number of instrumental or rhythm loops, be it a repeating synth lick, or even an extract from an actual drum track you already have on file (rappers Wu Tang Clan famously stockpiled sections of real drums recorded to tape as the basis for their own loop library). Hint: when using a rhythm loop as a click track for real drums, try keeping both parts in the final mix for an extra thick percussion sound.

Revisit your snippets. For every tune I’ve actually finished over the years, there were at least a dozen starter fragments that wound up being relegated to a folder on my desktop. While most probably deserved to be abandoned, with fresh ears sometimes a few of these song snippets suddenly sounded good enough to re-visit—not necessarily as the basis for a complete song, but rather for use as a potential bridge, pre-chorus or even intro for an existing track-in-progress. Again, your friend the editing tool can assist you in this effort, allowing you to adjust pitch, speed and duration of your snippets (even if it’s just to hear how it sounds in the designated spot).

Let’s get to the point. Working with unfamiliar instruments or sounds is important, but so is rethinking the way you assemble your material. As the late great Tom Petty once opined, “Don’t bore us—just get to the chorus.” To wit: rather than waiting a full minute for the lead vocal to come in, using your digital scissors you can move the track closer to the front of the song. Per TP’s advice, try doing the same thing with your chorus— particularly if you’ve got a really good one.

METALLICA Foi O Maior 'Top Rock Artist' De 2017

METALLICA Was 2017's Top Rock Artist, According to NIELSEN MUSIC

According to Nielsen Music's 2017 Year-End Music Report, METALLICA's "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" was America's second-best-selling rock album of the year. The disc's sales of 585,000 were eclipsed only by "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", which featured the likes of CHEAP TRICK, FLEETWOOD MAC and ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA. "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct"also ranked third on Nielsen's Top Rock Albums chart for 2017, ninth on its Total Sales chart and third on its Top Physical Albums chart.

Overall, METALLICA was Nielsen's #1 rock artist of the year, with a combined total of 1,836,000 album sales, TEA (track-equivalent albums, a unit of measurement where 10 paid downloads equal one album) and SEA (on-demand audio streaming-equivalent albums, another unit of measurement where 1,500 streams equal one album).

"Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" — issued via the band's own Blackened Recordings imprint — has sold more than 1.1 million copies in America since its November 2016 release, according to SoundScan. Much of the gain in "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" sales in early 2017 was owed to a concert ticket/album bundle sale redemption promotion with the band's stadium tour that went on sale last February. Redemptions of albums included with the purchase of a concert ticket registered as a sale in the week the customer redeemed/received the album.

"Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" debuted as expected at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart in November 2016, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release. Both of the band's previous outings, 2008's "Death Magnetic" and 2003's "St. Anger", sold more copies in shortened sales weeks. "Death Magnetic" moved 490,000 copies in a three-day window, while "St. Anger" shifted 418,000 copies in a similar frame.

"Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

Nielsen Music collects and compiles the sales data used to tabulate Billboard's charts.

Gravador De Rolo : Edição Limitada Fará 'Debut' Na Feira De Munique

Limited edition portable reel-to-reel recorder to make Munich debut

Some audiophiles will tell you that the only way to enjoy music listening with master tape audio quality is to do so using a reel-to-reel tape machine. Audio engineer Kostas Metaxas agrees and has announced a new addition to his high-end hi-fi hardware company's product line in the shape of a "kinetic art object" that happens to record and play analog tape.

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Metaxas says that the best source for reproduced music is analog tape recorded on 10-inch reels at 15 inches-per-second (IPS), and of that there is no doubt. He further states that the same reel-to-reel hardware is the best way to capture live music.

"This is a fact not open for discussion and is responsible for the incredible resurgence in interest in Open Reel Analog Tape Recorders," says the audio engineer and hi-fi component designer. "The High End Audio industry has embraced and acknowledged this over the past 10 years."

Metaxas himself has been using two modified Stellavox portable tape recorders to capture more than 300 concerts since the mid-1980s. Now his company, Metaxas & Sins, is looking to tap into the recent upsurge in analog reel-to-reel interest from audiophiles by creating an open reel tape machine called the GQT Portable Recording Device No 1, which acknowledges the hardware as a Georges Quellet Tribute – Quellet being the Swiss founder of Stellavox.

The GQT is based on the Stellavox SM8 recorder, and has been "designed for ultimate location recording and playback duties." It's likened to a large Swiss mechanical watch mechanism, with no computer or logic control hardware in sight. Its circuits are made up of discrete transistors and components similar to those found in 1960s to early 70s devices.

The portable recorder can handle either 468 or 911 0.25-inch analog tape, its DC motor will operate at 15 IPS only and, as you might expect from a Metaxas creation, the GQT is a work of art as well as a functioning recorder and playback machine.

The prototype device will be on display at the High End Show in Munich, Germany, during May, before a very limited production run starts around August. No price has been revealed at this time.

Source: Metaxas & Sins

Aqui Estão Os 10 Vídeos De Música Mais Assistidos De 2017

These Are YouTube's Most-Watched Music Videos Of 2017

First of all thanks to Hugh McIntyre for this article.

When looking back every year at which music videos were the most beloved and which were watched the most, there are always some large numbers and impressive showings, but 2017 saw several hit singles make history and set the pace for a world that can’t get enough of YouTube.

It goes without question that “Despacito” rules the list of the most-watched music videos of the year, as it has become a powerhouse unlike anything the platform has ever seen. The original clip—which doesn’t star pop star Justin Bieber, despite the fact that he was instrumental in bringing the tune to the ears of millions around the world—is not only the most-watched treatment of the year, it’s become the most-watched of all time.

The Bieber-less “Despacito” (which was released before he was involved) has now collected just under 4.5 billion views since it was released in mid-January. Back in August, the Latin smash pulled ahead of Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” as the most-watched video ever on the site, and then just a few hours later, it became the first video the hit the three billion-play mark. 

Only about two months later, it became the first to reach four billion, and it’s now almost half a billion ahead of that milestone, and it’s barely slowing down when it comes to bringing that number higher and higher.

Six of the top 10 most popular videos on the world’s most popular streaming music platform (at least in some ways) are sung in Spanish, which shows that music lovers in Latin countries all around the world turn to YouTube to hear the music they love. The other slots on the list are filled by major pop hits released by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Jason Derulo, and even DJ Khaled’s especially crowded “I’m The One.”

Here are the 10 most-watched music videos on YouTube of 2017.

1. Luis Fonsi - “Despacito (ft. Daddy Yankee)”

2. Ed Sheeran - “Shape Of You”

3. J Balvin & Willy William - “Mi Gente”

4. Maluma - “Felices los 4”

5. Bruno Mars - “That’s What I Like”

6. Chris Jeday - “Ahora Dice (ft. J. Balvin, Ozuna, Arcángel)”

7. Nicky Jam - “El Amante”

8. Jason Derulo - Swalla “(ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign)”

9. DJ Khaled - “I'm The One (ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne)”

10. Enrique Iglesias - “Subeme La Radio (ft. Descemer Bueno, Zion & Lennox)”

Indústria Da Música Processos (Judiciais) Para Observar Em 2018

Music Industry Cases And Issues To Watch In 2018

First of all thanks to Erin M. Jacobson for this article.

It’s been a year since I wrote about Music Industry Cases to Watch in 2017 and, unfortunately, not much has changed. Here’s an update on what’s happening in the music industry and what to keep an eye on for 2018.

The Department of Justice v. ASCAP and BMI

Background: I previously wrote about this issue here and here, and there hasn’t been much forward movement. To briefly recap, performance rights organizations ASCAP and BMI asked the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) -- which oversees the consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI -- to reform the decrees based on today’s digital age. The DOJ responded by ignoring the music industry’s requests for reform and instead mandating a model of 100% licensing, which restricts a performance rights organization to license rights to perform a work only if the organization controls 100% of that work. BMI appealed the decision and got an immediate verdict in BMI’s favor. The DOJ appealed and oral arguments on the case were just heard. (More info here as well.)

What You Might Expect: It could go either way. 

How It Could Affect the Industry: If the DOJ wins, then the music industry might need to change its business model and overhaul all of its longstanding licensing practices. If ASCAP and BMI win, then the music industry will be able to proceed with doing business as it has been for decades and continue making efforts to improve the existing system.

Potential Reform of Royalty Rates by the Copyright Royalty Board

Background: As I previously explained here, the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”) held hearings to potentially update the mechanical royalty rates paid to songwriters and publishers for reproductions of compositions. The current mechanical royalty rates for physical products and digital downloads are 9.1¢ for compositions five minutes or less in length, and streaming rates are at fractions of a penny. The National Music Publisher’s Association argued for rate increases on behalf of songwriters and publishers, while digital service providers (like Google, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and Apple) offered alternative rate structures that may lower rates overall. The CRB recently raised some rates for master recording owners, but the determination on mechanical royalties has not yet been revealed.

What You Might Expect: Hopefully this first determination for master owners will predict a raise in mechanical royalties as well. Whether mechanical royalties are raised still remains to be seen, but any increases that are granted would probably not be enough to remedy the music industry’s struggle with the value gap. David Israelite, President and CEO of the National Music Publisher’s Association (NMPA), graciously provided some exclusive quotes for this article, saying: “We are cautiously optimistic the CRB will return a rate structure that values appropriately the contribution of songwriters to digital music services. This is a very important decision as interactive streaming services become the dominant format for the enjoyment of music.”

How It Could Affect the Industry: If the CRB maintains or lowers the rates in favor of the digital service providers, the music industry would continue struggling with low rates of payment. If the CRB increases the rates, it would help the music industry’s cash flow issues, but probably still not support the music industry at the level it needs. Israelite also commented to us, “Regardless of the decision, the time has come for the government to get out of the business of setting rates for songwriters and to let the free market determine the value of songs.”

Many Lawsuits Against Spotify

Background: Spotify is an interactive streaming service required to pay both mechanical and performance royalties. As detailed here, Spotify has already agreed to several settlements for failure to properly pay mechanical royalties and has been sued several times for the same reason, with those cases still pending. Spotify made the argument that it shouldn’t have to pay mechanical royalties, despite previously admitting that it needed to do so.

What You Might Expect: Spotify’s argument is flawed in many ways, but their $16 billion valuation may hold some clout, or at least the funds to continue pushing their position. The music industry hopes to quash their arguments, but acknowledges that the lawsuits are just Band-Aids, and is striving to implement a more efficient system.

How It Could Affect the Industry: A legal decision set in Spotify’s favor could mean massive losses of income to songwriters, music publishers, and the music industry as a whole.  Hopefully, the streaming giant and the music industry will find a way to work together for their mutual benefit.

Many Music Catalogues Being Sold

Background: It’s old news for music industry folks that a large number of record labels are owned by just a few major corporations. However, acquisitions of composition catalogues are now hitting the spotlight after traditionally not garnering much attention. The catalogue purchase and sale market is booming, and those of us in this space (like me) are regularly looking at either buying or selling catalogues, depending on who we are representing. Many music publishing companies are also raising a lot of money from outside investors in order to gobble up other substantial catalogues. There are even rumors of music publishing giant EMI for sale at a $3 billion valuation.

What You Might Expect: There will be a lot more of these deals happening in 2018.

What It Means for the Industry: The majors will continue to buy the indies, and the larger indies will buy competitors and smaller companies. The music publishing world might get smaller, but there will always be more copyrights to go around. The downside is that the investors coming in with the funds are usually not in the music industry, meaning that the music publishing industry may now have to answer to venture capitalists, which has been a problem for years with major record labels. The good news is that these non-industry investors will need current industry experts to manage the catalogues they have purchased, continuing jobs and revenue flows throughout the industry.

*This article does not constitute legal advice.

Como Pensar Sobre Inteligência Artificial Na Indústria Da Música

How To Think About Artificial Intelligence In The Music Industry

First of all thanks to Kristin Westcott Grant for this article.

One of the goals of the industrial revolution was to have machines simulate physical tasks to produce outputs more efficiently. Fast forward to the present. The purpose of artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is to simulate any mental task. Machine learning is arguably one of the most important subsets of AI because it effects all other fields within AI. In any industry, you have a pattern or a model that you know to be true, you make a prediction, and then you update your model based on the result. This represents the learning process of machine learning. The introduction of this technology into industries like music, online dating, online publications, video-sharing and sports is becoming vital to each organization's competitive sustainability.

The more data you have, the better the accuracy of your machine learning algorithm. In the music industry access to information presents a big challenge, but once you have it, the question becomes, how can you use and manipulate it using machine learning?

Let us quickly recap why access to data is such a big challenge in the music industry.

Courtney Menard

The picture about depicts the challenges around access to streaming data, otherwise known as 'gold.'

DATA ACCESS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

In this metaphor, the "majors" represent Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The "streams" represent streaming companies like, but not exclusive to, Spotify and Apple. The "gold" represents consumer data from streaming platforms. The majors and the streams sit knighted at the roundtable. The streams rule the island of consumption and as a result control access to the gold. The majors are granted access to the gold because they own most of the island of content and a share of land on the island of consumption. The independents own a smaller portion in the land of content, and as a result, they have to get their gold from Robin Hood. Also known as direct-to-fan platforms that provide consumer data to artists such as Pledge Music, Hive or Superphone.

The question is, once you have access to the gold, what do you do with it and how can you maximize its value?

ENGAGEMENT DATA IS GOLD

Have you ever been hunting for gold? How do you go about it? You get a sieve, you dip the pan into the water, and you pull up a whole bunch of dirt, mud, rocks, and stuff that you do not need. However, somewhere in there is your gold, otherwise known as your actionable engagement data. Engagement data can be the "rate of collections," "follower change," "plays per user," or a "save," otherwise known as a "collection" from a playlist. The term, "collection," on Spotify, refers to when someone listens to a song, presses the add sign and adds the song to their library. Tapping into engagement metrics increase the likelihood of reaching potential super fans. Focusing on engagement data will allow a label to make more targeted business decisions across all verticals while driving revenue. According to a Goldman Sachs report released earlier this year, streaming will drive over $34 billion dollars worth of total revenue in the music business by 2030. That is a whole lot of streams, a whole lot of royalty payments, and a tremendous amount of data.

Courtney Menard

The motivations of the person holding the filter dictate how the filter is shaped and how the filter is shaped dictates what gold you get.

DATA FILTERS

The motivations of the person holding the filter have a direct impact on how the filters are designed, and subsequently how much gold you get. For example, the primary goals for a streaming platform like Apple, Spotify, Google Play or Deezer is to turn non-paying subscribers into paying subscribers. A major label's goal is to create, and then market hit songs while turning passive fans into super fans, similar to the rabid Beliebers of the world.

Two years ago, Spotify launched a marketing campaign called "Found Them First." The microsite lets users see which musicians they heard on Spotify before they became a breakout artist. From a label perspective, Spotify quantified what it means to be an early adopting fan. The point is that this potentially impactful mechanism was used to drive subscriber growth, not artist careers.

Industry players who have access to the gold are now competing with the help of their filtration ability. How can you design your sieve to get the gold you need, when you need it, to drive a higher return than your competitor.

But music is not the only industry working to create the perfect filter. In fact, one should pay attention to the advancements being made in other industries because of the parallel applicability to the music industry.

Courtney Menard

Just like how dating algorithms match couples together, so can those similar algorithms match artists to potential super fans.

DATING ALGORITHMS & AUTOMATED MARKETING TOOLS

In 2013, Amy Webb went on the TED stage and spoke about hacking the online dating code. She amassed 72 data points of her perfect man, everything from Jewish, to athletic, wants two children, is an adventurer, to even his appreciation of things. It was crucial for Webb that her perfect man appreciated an excellent spreadsheet. She then prioritized each data point, breaking them down into two tiers, giving each data point a score between 1 and 100. Amy then built a scoring system. If her perfect man scored 700 points she would send him an email, if he scored 900 points, she would have a phone call, and if her potential ideal man scored 1500 points, that meant there was long-term relationship potential, and they could go on a date.

Amy started getting all of these fantastic matches, except there was one problem. These men didn't like her back. Amy had forgotten to analyze the competition. She scraped the top profiles on the dating site, in music this could be compared to examining the social or streaming patterns of similar artists. She analyzed her competition's photo, humor, tone, voice, communication style, the average length of description, and time between posts. Amy's profile ended up becoming the highest ranking profile on the dating site. Soon after, a man scored 850 points, which she hadn't seen before. Three weeks later they went on a date. A year and a half later they got engaged, and two years later they had their first child. Now, If an algorithm can be used to narrow down your choices for a lifelong partner, then an algorithm can be used to find a fan that is guaranteed to spend $100 on your artist per year.

Just as Webb broke down her perfect man into 72 data points, so an artist can break down the characteristics of their potential super fan. For example, suppose Beyonce's base of super fans could be broken down as female, ages 27-34, with a typical purchasing pattern of buying premium brand diapers because they want to show that they are good mothers. If you rank these points, give them a score and run them through a scoring system. It is then possible to target the fans that are most likely to engage with your artist. For example, if your fan scores 700 points, you send a targeted Facebook ad, if your fan scores 900 points you send them an email and if your fan scores 1500 points you send them a personalized email with a free concert ticket.

The ability to find your true fan suggests that automatic marketing capabilities are not only possible but in our near future. However, the type of marketing actions that a label might engage in will differ based on the stage of the artist and genre. This assumes that fan types differ per genre and fan engagement differs depending on the stage of the artist. However, online dating algorithms are not the only industry that provides interesting parallels to music.

Courtney Menard

The image above showcases different types of engagement metrics as well as data that is insightful but not necessarily actionable.

YOUTUBE & RECOMMENDATION ENGINES

Assume that you have access to granular level engagement data from streaming platforms such as the "rate of collections" and the "rate of replays per user," all by a zip code level granularity. How could you use this information to not only target market but predict the likelihood of a potential superfan? The best industry parallel to consider in this example is YouTube's Recommendation algorithm.

Youtube, fueled by their parent company's artificial intelligence division, Google Brain, has successfully accelerated their recommendation capabilities through a series of micro-improvements. For example, roughly four years ago, YouTube made its first significant improvement to its recommendation algorithm when it decided to value the number of times users spent watching a video more than the number of video clicks per person. With this one move, creator's saw their view counts decline, who had originally profited from misleading headlines and thumbnails. All of a sudden, higher quality videos which were directly correlated with long watch times came to the forefront. As a result, watch time on YouTube grew 50% year over year over the next three years.

Google Brain learns independently by picking up on less apparent patterns at an accelerated rate. This technique is called unsupervised learning. Another micro-change caused by Google Brain was the choice by YouTube to recommend shorter videos for users on mobile apps and longer videos on YouTube's TV app. Google brain picked up on the notion that varying video length by platform would result in higher watch times. In music, this could be compared to varying advertising length based on the platform assuming shorting ads for mobile and longer ads for the desktop.

In 2016, Youtube launched 190 micro-changes on Google Brain and is said to be on pace to release 300 more microswitches by 2017. The implementation of Google Brain has increased the time people spend watching videos on YouTube by 70%.

Deep Reinforcement learning technology like this will be a catalyst to drive the music industry forward. This will likely be the case for United Masters, a recently publicised record label. Led by Steve Stoute, the former president of Interscope records, $70 million dollars was raised in a Series A investor round, led by Google's corporate parent, Alphabet. Other investors include Floodgate, Andreessen Horowitz, and 20th Century Fox. One of the company's core competencies will be its ability to target market high potential superfans based on learned data from sources including YouTube and Spotify.

Courtney Menard

Image above showcases examples of actionable engagement metrics.

NBA & IDENTIFYING PATTERNS

When Joe Lacob became the owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, he adopted a data-driven strategy. Lacob and his team analyzed player behavior across the NBA and identified the number of three-point shots taken as being "market inefficient." They concluded that roughly the same number of shots were being made from just inside the three-point line as outside it. Therefore they built their strategy around the notion that if their players, particularly Stephen Curry moved back a few inches from the three-point line before shooting, it would improve their point scoring average by 43%. With a data-driven strategy, Jacob Lacob took the Golden State Warriors, a team that hadn't won an NBA Championship since 1975, to win against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 Championships.

The NBA identified a pattern based on a common activity within the game. Here are a few examples where patterns are likely to be found in the music industry; the genre of playlists people are listening to, the time of day people listen to certain genres, and the effect that holidays, political events, or an artist's passing have on music consumption.

Courtney Menard

Image above showcases another example of engagement data.

BUZZFEED & ENGAGEMENT DATA

Buzzfeed is a social news and entertainment company. Buzzfeed invented an internal proprietary metric that curates articles based on reader preference. They do this by measuring the "rate of shares over time," within the first weeks of an article's release. Buzzfeed decided that a reader sharing a piece was more valuable than a click. Have you ever clicked on an article or played a song and walked away from your computer? What the act of sharing an article or saving a song to your Spotify collections shows is a higher level of engagement in comparison to a stream or a click. Arguably, this is helping to ensure a return on your investment.

So a "share" is more valuable than a "click," and a "collection" is more valuable than a "stream." By calculating the "rate of shares over time" or the "rate of collections over time," you're not only making sure that the consumers you are targeting are engaged but that they are growing significantly over time.

As of mid-2017, Buzzfeed was estimated at approximately$1.7 billion dollars and was processing roughly seven billion monthly content views.

With the sheer volume of streaming data growing year over year, the ability to enhance and fine-tune marketing capabilities in the music industry is endless. It comes down to access to the data that you need and the software capabilities to intelligently process and act upon that information. Moving forward into 2030, success as a label will come down to a company's ability to pair its human capital with intelligent software.