Music by Numbers

The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries

Music by Numbers
Richard Osborne, Dave Laing
RRP:
NZ$ 276.99
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NZ$ 263.14
Hardback
h244 x 170mm - 256pg
16 Feb 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781789382532
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9781789387520 UK Paperback $84.54

The music industries are fueled by statistics: sales targets, breakeven points, success ratios, royalty splits, website hits, ticket revenues, listener figures, piracy abuses, and big data. Statistics are of consequence. They influence the music that consumers get to hear, they determine the revenues of music makers, and they shape the policies of governments and legislators. Yet many of these statistics are generated by the music industries themselves, and their accuracy can be questioned. Music by Numbers sets out to explore this shadowy terrain. This edited collection provides the first in-depth examination of the use and abuse of statistics in the music industries. Written by noted music business scholars and practitioners in the field, the book addresses five key areas in which numbers are employed: sales and awards; music industry policy; live music; music piracy; and digital solutions. The authors address these subjects from a range of perspectives: some of them test the veracity of this data and explore its tactical use by music businesses; others help to generate these numbers by developing surveys and online projects and offering candid observations. The aim of this collection is to expose the culture and politics of data. Music industry statistics are pervasive, but despite this ubiquity they are underexplored. This book offers a corrective by providing new ways by which to learn music by numbers.
"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 "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 "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 "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 "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
Richard Osborne is Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at Middlesex University. He is the author of Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record (Ashgate, 2012) and co-editor with and Zuleika Beaven and Marcus O' Dair of Mute Records: Artists, Business, History (Bloomsbury, 2018). Outside of academia, he has worked in record shops, held various posts at PRS for Music and co-managed a pub. He publishes widely in the field of popular music studies, including the blog ' Pop Bothering Me' (http://richardosbornevinyl. blogspot. co. uk/). Dave Laing' s books include The Sound of Our Time (Sheed and Ward, 1969); Buddy Holly (MacMillan, 1971); The Electric Muse: The Story of Folk into Rock, co-authored with Karl Dallas, Robin Denselow and Robert Shelton (Eyre Methuen, 1975); Encylopedia of Rock, co-edited with Phil Hardy (HarperCollins, 1976); The Marxist Theory of Art (Prometheus, 1979); One Chord Wonders (Open University Press, 1985); The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, co-authored with Phil Hardy (Faber & Faber, 1990); The Guerilla Guide to the Music Business, co-authored with Sarah Davies (Continuum, 2006); and Popular Music Matters: Essays in Honour of Simon Frith, co-edited with Lee Marshall (Ashgate, 2014). One of the founding figures of popular music studies, Dave sadly passed away in 2019 when Music by Numbers was in production.
Status: No local stock, title imported to order
ISBN-13: 9781789382532
Published: 16 Feb 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Intellect Books
Publisher: Intellect Books
Format: Hardback
Height: 244mm
Width: 170mm
Pages: 256

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