D.I.Y.

Next Big Sound Adds Social Media and Streaming Data Notifications

Screenshot 2017-09-06 15.35.03The sheer quantity of noise on social media can make effective data tracking a challenge for any artist or manager, and keeping handle on it can often seem like a full time job. Here we look at how to set up a notification system that allows you to avoid missing anything on your social media and streaming channels without becoming overwhelmed.

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Guest post by Julien Benatar of Next Big Sound

When you’re an artist or a manager tracking social and streaming data, there can be a lot of noise. Data changes every day, and it quickly becomes a full-time job to stay on top of everything. So how do you know which changes matter, and how can you make sure you don’t miss them?

That’s the premise behind Next Big Sound’s latest artist insight: Notifications, which we are proud to introduce today.

What are Notifications?

Notifications are a single email that alerts you to notable streaming and social spikes for all the artists you follow on Next Big Sound. ​This allows us to share data science research directly with artists and their teams, so you can spend less time looking at dashboards, and more time being creative.

When an artist is getting a spike in activity, we detect it and email it directly to you. (visuals by Anabelle Zee)

Context is key

Delivering data-driven analytics to hundreds of thousands of artists over the years has taught us something that may sound surprising: Data is not just about numbers.

People come to Next Big Sound to find their social and streaming data aggregated in one place, but they also want to understand contextsurrounding that data. Knowing when something exceptional is happening is the first step, discovering why is what really matters.

For each graph we send, we also aim to pinpoint the events that likely caused the change. We do this by including the most engaging social posts surrounding that spike.

Useful for artists

With Notifications, you’ll…

  • Know when your audience reach and/or engagement is picking up across streaming and social networks
  • Understand what caused a spike with associated events
  • Validate the effects of the moves you’re making
  • Catch opportunities to re-engage your fans

Useful for the music industry

Looking after large rosters is a much different task.

  • Blocking out the noise: We built Notifications atop years of historical data and data science research, so we only send you what is exceptional and noteworthy.
  • Providing context: Each notification comes with a graph and relevant events to explain why an artist is trending. Need even more context? You are one click away from more extensive reporting on Next Big Sound.

Lund, Young M.A. and Beyoncé having spikes for Pandora, Wikipedia and Facebook.

It’s all about expectations

We define an alert when the value for a day is well outside of the expected range from the previous 40 days. In more technical terms, an alert is triggered when the observed value is outside of 4 standard deviations from the exponentially weighted moving average generated over the previous 40 days. You gotta love your standard deviations.

This is just the beginning. We’re constantly improving our algorithms to only send you what we detect as notable and noteworthy.

Want to learn more?

Notifications are free, and are for everyone. If you are already signed up to Next Big Sound, all you have to do is follow the artists you’d like to be notified about.

Not a user yet? Signing up only takes a few seconds. If you or an artist you work with isn’t already on Next Big Sound, adding a profile is a few clicks away.

Questions? Let’s chat! E-mail us at support@nextbigsound.com if you need help navigating Notifications.

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