Music streaming services are all about finding new ways to enable their listeners to discover new music and artists first. However, Pandora's new feature is taking this idea one step further and allowing users and musicmakers to see which songs and artists are about to be the next big thing.
Pandora announced on Monday, Aug. 15 the release of a three new charts that were created to serve as a resource for those in the music biz. Powered by the analytics and music industry insights company Next Big Sound, the charts all help identify current and emerging trends on the platform.
"Pandora has 100 million listeners visit every three months, and they are deeply engaged, listening 24 hours each month — over two and half times greater than any other service. This generates hundreds of thousands of data points every day that help us map and predict a song's trajectory," Sara Clemens, chief operating officer of Pandora said in a press release. "Our charts are the visualization of this fan activity, and are an easy-to-use tool that gives artists and their teams vital information to help them make decisions and grow their careers."
The charts consist of three different categories: Trendsetters, Predictions and Top Spins.
The Trendsetters Chart is all about identifying the top up-and-coming artists. This chart uses Next Big Sound's Taxonomy of Artists research, which comes down to social and streaming activity.
Pandora then provides people with insights into the top 20 artists who have had their music added to the most stations over a given week, allowing people to see which lesser-known artists are trending on the platform.
Artists on this chart will only be labeled as those who are "undiscovered" or "promising," so that once they become an established or mainstream artist, they can no longer appear on this chart.
Kiiara currently holds the No. 1 spot on the Trendsetters Chart, followed by Famous Dex and D.R.A.M.
Pandora's Top Spins Chart identifies the top 100 songs spun on the platform over the past week. Keep in mind that each spin counts for between 1.5 to 10 million plays. Tracks on this chart include Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna's "This is What You Came For," K.E.N.T. Jones' "Don't Mind" and Drake featuring Rihanna's "Too Good."
Songs on this chart are eligible to continue to be featured on it after 16 weeks, with those on a "hot streak" (when the song hasn't reached its peak spin count) being the exception.
The Predictions Chart forecasts which artists are likely to hit the Billboard 200 chart for the first time in a given year, which means it's another way people can see which artists are about to explode and become mainstream. The predictions are made using Next Big Sound's proprietary algorithm that takes into account the artists that have previously reached this milestone, along with the social and streaming activity before their success, to determine who is the next to do so.
Currently on this list are Christine and the Queens, Dua Lipa and Yung Lean.
Those interested can check out Pandora's charts on the Next Big Sound website.
