MusicTank Panel: Can moneyballing strategy used in US sports work for music A&R?
Moneyballing Music: Big Data, Consumers And A&R is the name of the first debate of 2015 organised by music industry think tank MusicTank. And at the centre of the discussion, which takes place 10 March at London’s University of Westminster, will be Moneyballing Music, an insight paper by Universal Music UK marketing assistant Prithwijit Mukerji (pictured).
The title borrows the word ‘moneyballing’, a term originally adopted by the US sports sector when statistics, data and algorithms are used to determine the success of a game’s strategy.
It is now generally taken to mean the use of smart data to improve business performance. That approach is being embraced by the music business, which is taking this sports industry performance-analysis theory and applying it to the recording sector.
Mukerji’s insight paper is part of Future Thinking, a new MusicTank initiative designed to raise the profile of outstanding postgraduate music business talent drawn from University of Westminster’s MA Music Business Management course.
MusicTank says: “The paper not only addresses how the recorded music sector is currently collecting and using data to support a historically subjective and high-risk process of signing and developing new artists, but also considers how such data can be used to help minimise investment risk.”
An examination of the paper’s findings will be accompanied by the panel session Moneyballing Music: Big Data, Consumers And A&R, which will examine whether ‘moneyballing’ is compatible to the music industry.
“It will consider how deeper analysis and application of a myriad of the recordings business’ data points might help better anticipate consumers’ tastes and better inform A&R decision-making processes when signing new talent,” MusicTank explains in a statement.
The music industry data specialists invited to participate in the panel include Jack Fryer, Universal Music UK’s head of insight; digital media specialist and former Musicmetric executive chairman Jeremy Silver. Apple recently agreed to acquire Musicmetric, the music-industry analytics startup, for a reported $50 million.
Joining Silver and Fryer will be A&R guru Korda Marshall, founder of Infectious Music; and Kim De Ruiter, senior manager, music video and games, Europe, at Samsung Electronics.
For more details about the debate, click here. And visit here for a free copy of the Moneyballing Music insight paper.
[Juliana Koranteng]