The Evolution of Music Research
A Bridge Ratings View
Radio is under attack from the music streaming services and radio has its own streaming data to fight back.
But how did we get here?
When one considers the pioneers of music research and
understanding favorite music of the masses, it’s Todd Storz who is often
mentioned. He’s commonly credited
with inventing the Top 40 Radio format during the mid-1950s while he worked
KOWH, an Omaha radio station.
The story goes that while sitting in a bar near his station, he noticed that the patrons kept
playing the same popular songs over and over on the jukebox. Figuring that this
observation might give KOWH a bit of an advantage in holding onto its listeners,
he implemented this new format, which jettisoned the station to number one with
shares in the mid-to-upper 30s.
The rest is history.
Today the concept of determining the most popular songs and playing them often throughout
each day is a staple of the radio business. Yet the process by which the
industry determines this information has changed.
Mr. Storz was one of the first in radio to commission studies about radio listening habits
and music tastes with local universities.
These listener-focus studies became more common as the radio industry matured and
into the sixties more “sophisticated” methods took shape including call-out
research in which listeners were called on their phones and asked about their
favorite songs. As technology became more capable, these call-out projects
added audio by feeding song clips down the phone line so listeners could rate
the songs on a predetermined scale.
Radio Research Matures
Radio programmers would also make weekly calls to local record shops and ask about
the best-selling songs and albums of the week. Sales became an important
indicator of popularity even though the sale of a 45 RPM record or album did
not provide any insight as to how often the song was listened to…or for how
long.
On-demand Streaming
Much has been said about the tremendous growth on-demand streaming is experiencing - 80-90% growth over the last two years. For many of
those who enjoy music, on-demand streaming has opened the door to a universe of
music.
Streaming platforms which provide an on-demand service (Spotify,
Amazon, iHeart & YouTube) rather than those which utilize an algorithm
to serve a non on-demand product (Pandora and others) offer broadcast radio
programming executives a gold mine of information about their listeners. For
the first time in radio's history there is now data which accurately reflects
listeners' tastes in music with large samples.
A recent Bridge Ratings study revealed that less than 15%
of music consumers use on-line music services or their own personal music
collections exclusively and no longer listen to broadcast radio for
music. The remaining music consumers use both broadcast radio and on-line music
services. In fact, on-line music streaming is considered a complement to
broadcast radio listening and many consumers look to radio to curate the vast
music expanse available.
The Bridge study also indicates that streaming behavior mimics
that of radio listening in that it is engaging, reflects music tastes, is an
active rather than passive experience and is experienced in a similar
environment to music listening on radio.
In fact, on-demand music research is more closely aligned to
true consumption behavior than radio's standard research concepts of call-out
research or auditorium music tests which offer tedious and often uncomfortable
environments. Seven second hooks of songs played down a phone line or on a
speaker system in a hotel ballroom may not be as appealing as on-demand
streaming because by definition streaming reflects engagement and true choice
about songs in natural settings.
While it may be difficult to attract non-radio music consumers
back to the fold as often as in the past, on-demand streaming research can
surely enhance the on-air product for those who do listen - especially for
those who use both radio and streaming in their daily lives.
An Industry Facing the Music
It's time for broadcasters to face the music and utilize the data from on-demand behavior to refine their stations. As music research
dollars have disappeared, many radio programmers have turned to "consensus research" (see blog
here), looking to other radio stations playlists to determine which
songs to play or add.
Is this really the best way to program to your audience?
How can on-demand music research be used? That depends on format
or style of music.
For current-based stations:
-Check airplay against streaming behavior.
-Confirm programming gut instinct about:
-How often songs are played
-Are power songs on air really among the most streamed?
-Recurrent exposure. Did you move a song to recurrent too soon.
It may still show as a high-demand title and increasing airplay may be the
appropriate move. According to Nielsen 34% of the songs streamed by Top 40
radio listeners last week were released in 2012 or 2013. Favorites are
favorites and some songs continue to hold interest.
-Song adds. That new song by Meghan Trainor that was added last
week...its on-demand consumption may warrant a faster increase in on-air
exposure.
-High rotation current songs...do they deserve the exposure they
are getting or does the on-demand information indicate reduced popularity?
-Determine hype from reality. A song may be getting a lot of buzz
in industry trades, advertising and from your neighborhood record label
promoter. Is the hype real? Check the streaming data and know for sure.
-Are there titles your audience is streaming that you aren't
aware of that fit your station's sound?
For library-based stations:
-Gut-check your most-played songs. After years and years of on-air
exposure is "Hotel California" still as popular as ever?
-Unknowns. This is applicable for any type of radio station.
Songs which have been ignored or have no awareness to you that show significant
popularity or growth can broaden station appeal and strengthen brand image.
I-nstant feedback. Have you seen the movie "Guardians of the
Galaxy"? Its release included a very popular soundtrack rooted in music
from the 70s and 80s. The Monday morning following its first weekend in
theaters the soundtrack was the most downloaded on iTunes. It also started
showing up in on-demand streams. "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone
and "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede are pushing that album to
sales records and to this day remain on the most-streamed song lists especially
for gold-based stations like Classic Hits and Classic Rock.
-Increased interest 'out of nowhere' of songs in movies, TV
shows, even commercials shows up in on-demand streaming.
-Concert appearances will boost consumption. If an artist is
coming to your town, check the streaming data before and after to indicate
which titles to add or increase in exposure.
On-demand streaming research can aid broadcasters where resources are no longer in the budget. This type of information is a more
accurate reflection of true consumption behavior and it allows a programmer to
interpret that data for her specific situation.
It can be used as a guide to light the way to more confident
programming decisions and more satisfied listeners.
Boy, the universe of on-demand streaming data just keeps getting
more interesting.
And more helpful to music radio programmers.
So, let me take a moment to speak to the radio programmers out
there.
Let me count the ways:
1. True music consumption by station listeners
2. Confirm song appeal
3. Learn what songs are underplayed on air
4. Learn what songs are overplayed
5. Discover songs your audience listens to you don't play
6. Reveal the true lifecycles of the songs you play.
7. Know what the true hits are
There are many others, but I'll stop at seven.
What's number 5 all about?
Discover songs your audience listens to but you don't play.
That's right. On-demand streaming data uncovers a treasure-trove
of information about the music played on radio. The data confirms broadcast
radio's role as the player-of-hits.
It also unveils songs your listeners are streaming that aren't
on your air.
Bridge Ratings' StreamStats on-demand streaming data is
station-specific. No more guessing what you're audience is consuming.
Radio listeners in 2020 are discovering music in a multitude of
ways: sometimes on the radio, through TV shows, movie soundtracks, friends
sharing, concert tours and word of mouth.
It's difficult to keep up with such a variety of platforms but
on-demand streaming is the tool to find those undiscovered hits.
In studying music consumption for five widely popular radio
formats, Bridge Ratings looked at a recent single week of music consumption
on-demand. Platforms used for this analysis were pure on-demand such as Spotify
and YouTube.
The analysis looked at Classic Rock Mainstream R&B, Country,
Adult Top 40 (Hot AC) and Mainstream Top 40.
For this analysis we looked at format gold, songs older than
three years.
Regardless of music format, we were able to find a number of
titles that did not appear on the stations monitored during that week.
In every format we looked into we found undiscovered gems that
radio programmers were not playing.
Some formats revealed deep wells of undiscovered songs: Classic
Rock (121) and Triple A (243) to name two.
A percentage of the undiscovered songs may well be
"un-played" songs from libraries and were resting for some reason,
but as the the following chart shows, the larger percentage of undiscovered
songs non-library material in every format - except Country - exceeded 60%
of the songs found.
We are learning so much through the analysis of on-demand streaming
about true music consumption today. In the past consumers of popular music
relied on broadcast radio to curate and expose the songs that were purchased.
Today's technology has turned this notion on its head. Music
consumers are often discovering songs and artists that broadcast radio has not
which further reduces the need for broadcast radio by the most active music
consumers.
And the old model of hit music metrics really no longer applies.
If there's one thing on-demand music streaming has taught us is
that it has changed the definition of what a "hit" is today.
"Hits" are more often achieved by the longevity
of song consumption rather than how many purchases or downloads that song
achieves.
Bridge Ratings now uses a longevity metric to help us understand
how a true hit today should be defined. A soon-to-be published report on this
aspect of song lifecycle will provide more in-depth understanding.
Used to be a song, artist or album's popularity was defined by
sales. The purchase of a record is really only the beginning, isn't it?
We've never had the ability to track a song's popularity once
the purchase has been made. Today we do and broadcast radio's ability to
understand true consumption will lead it to true "hit" music and
undiscovered gems.
Finally, the radio and record industries have a metric which truly identifies actual song
consumption. To properly align music libraries to true song popularity, the radio industry
will greatly benefit from leaning on on-demand streaming to accomplish this. The benefits
include increased time-spent-listening, increasing daily listening occasions and listener
satisfaction with station brands that reflect true taste.