Here, we take a look at how you can use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure the success of your record release campaign and tailor your strategy accordingly.

Guest post by Bobby owsinski music 3.0

So you have a new recording and you want to drop it on the public. You have any idea how to do this, right? Far too many artists just record their song and album and then wonder what to do with it once it’s done. Assuming you’re smarter than that, you’ve come up with a strategy for how it will deliver to the public – a campaign. Your music is on streaming services and Youtube and you talk about it on social media, and maybe even lucky enough to get broadcast – but how do you know if it’s working or not? This is where what are called key performance indicators (or KPIs) come into play.

In an excellent post, Amber hornsburgh goes into KPI metrics in detail, but I’ll give you a brief overview here. These are divided into 4 categories. Some of them may apply to your campaign (like marketing and sales) while others (like radio or print) may not.

Marketing and sales KPIs

1) ROI

Return on investment. Amount of dollars you had to spend to get a result, which can be a positive or negative value.

2) Scope of the playlist

Total number of subscribers for each playlist on which a track appears. Usually represented individually by each DSP.

3) Real Estate Reading List

Visibility of a track on the DSPs, as shown by the weekly change in the number of playlists to which a track is added or deleted, position of the playlist.

4) Monthly auditors

Unique listeners of an artist over a 28 day period.

5) Profile Followers (DSP)

Unique followers of the profile of an artist.

6) Consumption

Total sales generated by physical sales (CD, cassette, vinyl), digital downloads, streams and monetized video views.

7) Growth of the territory

Difference in consumption in a specific country, region or set of cities.

8) Income

Total money earned by an artist over a period of time.

9) Graphics performance

Ranking of the best songs and albums played, streamed, watched or sold during a given period, as reported by Nielsen SoundScan.

Digital and social KPIs

10) Return on digital expenses

Dollars generated by specific paid social and digital media purchases versus the cost of creating the asset.

11) Cost per new auditor

The dollar value of a new listener, determined by the costs of creative assets, media spending, and online advertising.

12) Buzz

The total number of times an artist or record is mentioned on social media platforms, tracked weekly to determine growth / decline.

13) Growth of followers

The difference between subscribers to the profile week after week on social networks and DSPs.

14) Click-through rate

Percentage of ad impressions of an individual item or campaign that generated a click.

15) Duration of video completion

Average production time (minutes, seconds) of your video.

16) Effective range

The ratio of paid media to earned media.

17) Engagement rate

Percentage of impressions that drove consumers to actually engage with your asset – typically applied to social media campaigns as an indicator of fan loyalty.

Tap on KPIs

18) Potential scope

Total audience for the posts, websites, and blogs your coverage is featured on.

19) Active coverage

Coverage provided by the PR team.

20) Height performance

The number of press releases and pitches you send out and their performance.

21) Feeling

Your articles mentioning your name, your press release or your competitors.

Radio KPI

22) Public

Total sum of listeners for specific radio stations the track is playing on.

23) Tours

Number of times an individual track is played on a specific radio station.

The general idea is to check these KPIs and see how they are evolving. Obviously we want them to trend up, but even if they are going down, the data can still be meaningful in that it tells us that there is something wrong that may be. -be corrected. You may want to see the original article for more details on each KPI.

[Image by Dirk Wouters from Pixabay]