The company announced the arrival of the Artist Marketing Platform, or AMP, in a blog post published yesterday.
“From finding out what songs are performing well to inform singles or set lists, to mapping where an artist’s fan base is to inform tour schedules, our ultimate goal is to help artists across the spectrum build and maintain their careers,” Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) founder Tim Westergren wrote.
Value for artists
The intention behind the AMP is to give artists a hand in analyzing all of the data churned out by Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), which as musicians may or may not be their forte. The new platform will analyze the data and produce visuals which the artists can use, and share with fans if they so desire.
Artists will be able to use the data to inform business decisions too. Westergren was inspired by his experience as a member of a band which once drove over 1,000 miles for a gig, only for the crowd to number less than a dozen. He hopes to help other artists avoid these expensive wasted trips, as well as other mistakes.
The AMP will provide data on listener numbers in particular cities using an interactive heat map feature, as well as the number of thumbs up and thumbs down ratings they have received, in order to better inform choices.
Pandora’s data collection
Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) has become a giant, collecting amazing amounts of data in the first decade of its existence. Users have streamed over 50 billion hours of music, and left artist ratings over 45 billion times. Almost 12,000 of the 125,000 artists featured on the station have received feedback from over 100,000 users.
Of course Pandora’s motives may not be purely philanthropic, with data analysis essential to the ongoing negotiation of royalty rates with the music industry. The AMP strengthens Pandora’s hand, providing valuable data that can be used to improve other revenue streams.
