Music by Numbers

Everyone who is interested in music is, in one way or another, influenced by numbers - from tracks, hits and streams to profit margins, ticket prices and piracy rates. What the chapters in this collection demonstrate is that these numbers are never neutral; they are inherently political - constructed and presented in specific ways to suit particular interests. This book offers essential guidance for anyone who wants to make sense of the statistics that surround the music industry, and - fortunately - you don't need to be a maths whizz to understand it. In an age when the 'data' about music is constantly increasing, this collection will only increase in importance, helping future readers to make sense of numbers yet to be invented. -- Lee Marshall, professor of Sociology, University of Bristol This book offers a timely examination of how data and statistics lie at the heart of the music industries - in making decisions, lobbying governments, and discussing internet piracy. Commonly held industry assumptions are challenged with recourse to a variety of data sources and methodologies, and in an engaging, lucid manner. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in how the music business uses, abuses and manipulates the vast quantities of data that digital technologies have made available. -- Chris Anderton, associate professor in Cultural Economy, Solent University, Southampton From the Hit Parade to Spotify, whether in arguments about royalties, piracy or the relative value of the live and recorded sectors, the political economy of popular music has always been shaped by statistics. This collection of essays provides a thoughtful, sceptical and instructive guide to why and how music businesses use and abuse numerical data. -- Simon Frith, emeritus professor of Music, University of Edinburgh Music By Numbers is a major contribution to popular music studies. The analyses and accounts here are detailed, rigorous, and inclusive, providing crucial resources for comparative and critical research as well as substantial counterweights to industry- and policy-serving materials. -- Matt Stahl, associate professor of Information and Media Studies, Western University, Ontario The book could have been called 'Doing a Number on Music Data' as it does just that. It reveals the tricks and traps that seemingly objective statistics conceal and puts paid once and for all the notion that they should be taken at face value. Everyone should understand the basis for claims backed by data and actual or potential sources of bias. This book is a very good source for doing just that in the music industry. -- Ruth Towse, professor of economics of creative industries, Bournemouth University