What are the best tools and platforms for tracking and analyzing your streaming data?

If you're an aspiring or established artist, you know how important it is to grow your fanbase and reach new audiences. But how do you measure your impact and engagement on different streaming platforms? How do you use data to improve your marketing and promotion strategies? How do you find out what your fans really want and need from you?

In this article, we'll show you how to grow your fanbase with streaming analytics, a powerful tool that can help you understand your listeners, optimize your content, and boost your revenue. We'll cover the following topics:

1 What are streaming analytics?

Streaming analytics are the data and insights that you can get from various streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, and more. Streaming analytics can tell you how many streams, downloads, views, likes, comments, shares, and followers you have, as well as where, when, and how your fans are listening to your music. Streaming analytics can also reveal your demographics, genres, playlists, and sources of discovery.

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Dutch Van Spall FRSA

Music Producer and Mentor
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If you are in the early stages of finding your audience it's likely that your streaming numbers will be low - don't read too much into the statistics in the first year of releasing. Use the data as a means of discovery. Compare the statistics of different platforms and note any big differences and similarities. Your fans will not be all on the same platform. Start to gain an understanding of "who" is listening and "where" they prefer to engage with you.

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2 Why are streaming analytics important?

Streaming analytics are important for making informed decisions about your music career. By analyzing your streaming data, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses as an artist, discover new markets, track progress, compare performance with other artists, adjust marketing tactics, engage with fans, and increase income. This data can be used to make better decisions and grow your career.

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Dutch Van Spall FRSA

Music Producer and Mentor
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In the early days of doing this you may become overwhelmed by the task of so many platforms giving you data overload. Choose the platform where you have the most engagement and success and concentrate on that audience to begin with. What you learn from that - you can apply to your other platforms at a later stage.

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3 How to access streaming analytics?

To access streaming analytics, you need to register with the streaming platforms that you use or distribute your music to. Most platforms offer some form of analytics dashboard or report that you can access online or through an app. For example, Spotify has Spotify for Artists, Apple Music has Apple Music for Artists, YouTube has YouTube Studio, and SoundCloud has SoundCloud Stats. These tools allow you to see your streaming data in real-time or over a period of time, as well as customize your profile, upload your music, and manage your rights.

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Dutch Van Spall FRSA

Music Producer and Mentor
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Spotify is the market leader with around 37% market share with iTunes/Apple around 14%. You will need to officially release music via your distributor/aggregator in order to become a verified artist and benefit from tools such as Spotify for Artists. Accessing and reading leads to familiarisation and you will begin to gain an understanding - or at least know the right questions to ask. Don't be put off because you don't know everything .. it's a process. Stick with it - learn a little at a time - at your own pace. You will get there.

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4 How to analyze streaming analytics?

When analyzing streaming analytics, it's important to look beyond the numbers and uncover the patterns and trends that are relevant. To do this, you can ask yourself questions such as who your fans are, what your most popular songs and videos are, when your fans are listening to your music, and how they are discovering it. Additionally, consider the rates of likes, comments, shares, and follows for your streams and views. Furthermore, take note of the growth rates and fluctuations for your streams and views over time.

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Dutch Van Spall FRSA

Music Producer and Mentor
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Look for patterns with age, gender and location. Is there a stronger connection with some of your songs? What is different about those songs that attract that specific grouping? Don't fall into the trap of writing to please an audience - always write to please yourself. Those will always be your best songs .. however .. if you start to understand where a song will have more impact you can concentrate your limited time and resources on targeting those groups. Remember - you are not trying to 'sell' to everyone - just find "your people"

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5 How to use streaming analytics to grow your fanbase?

To use streaming analytics to grow your fanbase, you need to apply the insights that you get from your data to your music strategy. For example, create content that resonates with your fans by using streaming data to identify genres, styles, themes, and formats that appeal to them. Additionally, promote your music on the platforms and channels that generate the most traffic and engagement. Connecting with fans on a personal level by leveraging streaming data to discover their interests is also essential. Collaborating with other artists and influencers can expand your reach, and experimenting with different strategies and testing the results can help you learn from successes and failures.

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Dutch Van Spall FRSA

Music Producer and Mentor
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This is good advice, however, as you begin to grow your audience - do not ignore the low performing platforms. You may have fans there who have not yet 'discovered' you because maybe you are using the wrong approach for how users like to engage on that platform. Rotate the model every now and then and concentrate on understanding how fans prefer to interact and search on their platform of choice [- it will make it easier for you to find them. Just because they don't appear in the statistics does not mean they don't exist.

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What are the best tools and platforms for tracking and analyzing your streaming data?

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1 What are streaming analytics?

2 Why are streaming analytics important?

3 How to access streaming analytics?

4 How to analyze streaming analytics?

5 How to use streaming analytics to grow your fanbase?

Artist Development

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