Music Biz 2019

Data, data, data. We know it’s good to have it and reams of it are available, but how can you extract real meaning from data? The Music Industry Research Association (MIRA) brings you two academic scholars who use rigorous methods to find surprising, actionable and interesting results on three critical topics: 1) With the domination of streaming, the new tastemakers for music have shifted from DJs to the likes of Spotify, Pandora and Apple. How much of an impact does a Spotify playlist have and does this decision reflect gender biases? 2) Advertisements are a revenue maker, but consumers are not always game to experience them. How many ads will a user consume before they flee? This question is answered by a remarkable controlled experiment that varied the number of ads that millions of Pandora users were exposed to. 3) What does it cost for that once-in-a-lifetime concert experience, and why have prices been rising faster than health care inflation?  Check out this analysis of the latest PollStar and Setlist data to find out what the real trends are and what determines touring revenue.