Learn About the Artists Through Their Stats

Urska Jaksa

Sep 16, 2020

✔️ Do the initial screening.

✔️ Dive into the artist's fanbase.

✔️ Check the music channels and see where the fans are coming from.

✔️ Look into their live performances.

✔️ See how well-connected they are.

To explore the stats of specific artists, go to the search box in the navigation bar and type in their name. When you get to their Page, click the "ANALYTICS" button. If you haven't selected your plan yet, you'll first have to sign up and choose the right option for you. 

Done? Let's get to it.

First step: Do the initial screening

When looking into an artist's online performance, a good way to start is by checking their 90-day performance on social media and music channels, as well as the network respect in the first section, Career Health. It will give you an initial feeling for their performance in simple "poor", or "good" fashion. For more insights into Career Health, read this article:

📌 What Is Career Health, Anyway?

The next step is to look at the yearly trajectory of the artist in Career Performance, which is a 12-month timeline showing their online popularity based on Viberate Points with indicated highlights. Viberate Popularity combines data from social media and music channels in one metric.

An upward trend indicates that the artist is gaining traction, a "hockey stick" line indicates a breakthrough artist who's gained a lot of popularity, and a straighter line shows stable overall popularity.

We’re using the example of Wallows to demonstrate the sections (see the upward trend in the graph below). Note that sudden increases can also be a result of social media and music channel links added to the Artist Page. To make sure, check the Fanbase and Engagement sections below.

Second step: Dive into the artist's fanbase

In the Total Fanbase Distribution, check if the artist has a diversified presence on social media and music channels. This means they can promote their music, gigs, and related ventures on multiple platforms.

In Fanbase Growth and Engagement (see the graphs below), check changes in the size of the artist’s fanbase and its engagement across channels.

Be aware of the trends. Look for artists with steady fanbase growth and engagement and note those with an upward trend, which means they're gaining momentum.

Research peaks, as they usually indicate interesting activity.

Round it out in the Fanbase vs. Engagement section, which is a comparison of the artist’s overall fanbase and engagement on social media and music channels.

The left graph shows fanbase growth vs. engagement. We can sum it up to: when engagement grows parallel with the fanbase, the artist is on a healthy career trajectory. 

The right graph shows fanbase size vs. engagement: look for artists with the red engagement line above the fanbase size line. This indicates a highly engaged audience. 

The example below ticks both boxes.

The Twitter and Instagram Content Performance sections at the end of the Artist Page will give you a deeper insight into the performance of the artist’s content on Twitter and Instagram in the last 3 months. An engagement level above the industry average indicates that the artist has a highly engaged audience (highlighted in the image below). You’ll see that the average engagement rate naturally decreases with the size of the fanbase, so the artist is compared to other similar artists.

Third step: Check the music channels and see where the fans are coming from

Music Chart Appearances will give you the number of times the artist has appeared on charts across music channels, and which tracks were the most popular. See how popular the artist's tracks are globally or per country. Check the channel, how high the track ranked, where it peaked, when, and how much time it spent on a chart. 

YouTube & Shazam Overview monitors the artist’s overall performance on YouTube and Shazam and their top-performing videos and tracks. Compare the views and Shazams of different tracks. See if they are evenly distributed across tracks or if the artist gained success only with a particular song. Note that this is an overview of the artist's official channel. 

In the Monthly Audience Map, check the artist’s listener and video view distribution across countries. See where audiences listen to the artist and identify potential markets. When planning a gig, a tour, or promotional activity, check if the artist has a following in a specific country and how big it is (note that Spotify isn't available on all markets and was just recently launched on some). 

You can also upgrade your knowledge of the market. Each country also has its own analytics, where you’ll get an overview of its music market (Click the "ANALYTICS " button in the navigation bar and search for the country you want to explore. If you haven't selected your plan yet, it will take you to a page where you can learn everything about it and choose the right option for you.). 

Here’s a guide that will help you research the markets:

📌 Do All Your Country Research in One Place

Fourth step: Look into their live performances

Events Overview is a breakdown of the artist’s detected live performances that allows you to do your due diligence when booking or signing artists. Get a sense of their experience with live gigs or the size of crowds and venues that they're used to. Also, check the yearly difference to see how their gig engagements have changed.

It will take some time until the live performance industry gets back on track, but this is still a useful overview of the average crowd sizes, most played venue types, and the countries where the most events took place.

The Top Live Performances also show the top venues and festivals where the artist has performed in the last 2 years.

And finally: See how well-connected they are

Artist Connections show the number of artists who follow the analyzed artist on social media and music channels and their distribution across countries and genres. Digging deeper, the Connections by Popularity section gives you an overview of artists who follow the artist you’re looking into on social media and music channels, and whether the artist follows them back.

Look for well-connected artists or see how artists in your roster can improve their music network. Being well-connected indicates peer respect, provides the potential for mutual support when promoting new ventures, or even offers the prospect of collabs.

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