This week we have some extremely exciting news for Indiehitmaker customers; Penske Media which owns Rolling Stone and Variety, along with publications like IndieWire and Deadline, has chosen to invest in the music charts and data company BuzzAngle. Says Penske Media founder Jay Penske, “BuzzAngle has already accomplished many milestones but, as part of this new alliance, we will jointly push even more aggressively to make the charts an essential and central part of the music, media and entertainment industry.”
Penske Media’s investment represents the first push for a music charting company to rise to the level of Billboard Magazine and their industry dominated Neilsen-generated charts. Prior to the introduction of Soundscan in the early 90s, Billboard’s charts were compiled using hand-tallied forms recorded by retail employees of their stores’ best sellers. Since then, new technology and the internet has allowed for a massive influx of data that a music company can examine for a massive number of metrics, but, until recently, there were little to no companies putting that data to good use.
So what’s the difference between BuzzAngle and Billboard’s charts? BuzzAngle, launched in 2016 by Jim Lidestri, also the founder of Border City Media, was started to fill a void in the market from a data analytics standpoint. BuzzAngle strived to reveal more information and depth than simply the Top 100 and 200, and provide customers with a more analytical angle. Says founder Jim Lidestri, “The Top 200 is fine, but if you wanted to drill down to test the efficiency of your marketing campaign, or how your artists are doing on tour, or wanting to know who to sign, it was woefully inadequate. They are a charting and reporting service, while we’re an analytics company.”
“BuzzAngle has already accomplished many milestones but, as part of this new alliance, we will jointly push even more aggressively to make the charts an essential and central part of music, media and the entertainment industry.” -Jay Penske, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Penske Media
Where Billboard tracks sales data from point of sale registers, streaming, radio play, and live shows, BuzzAngle uses a variety of gathered data from sales, streaming, and airplay activity of albums, songs, and artists to deliver deeper information, providing much more detail in their reported data. BuzzAngle also reports daily as opposed to Billboard’s weekly deadline. Penske Media’s investment in BuzzAngle paves the way for artists’ access to more diverse and a bigger variety of charting resources.
“Penske Media is the perfect partner to help BuzzAngle fulfill the goals we set out to achieve at our founding,” said Lidestri. “The needed funding will accelerate product development and the reach of Variety and Rolling Stone will provide an unparalleled ability to bring charts and data analysis both to the music industry and to music fans worldwide.”
To be successful in today’s music industry, you must prove you can sell and stream music. The industry accepted way to do so is through Soundscan and BuzzAngle. At IHM, we’ve been helping artists report to SoundScan since 2007 and BuzzAngle since their inception. There is no company more qualified to help you #makeitcount. When you join indiehitmaker we not only help you report your sales and streams, we guide you through the release planning process and partner with you to continue building your momentum so you can reach your goals and fulfill your dreams. Rely on our experts to help you build a winning team and provide you consistent visibility to industry professionals that can take your career to the next level. All it takes is $10 and your commitment and passion to your art. Join now by getting started here.
