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Tom O'Brien
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1/19/2010 3:52:57 PM
Alarming spike in listens?
I've heard people mention this before, and wondered if anyone had any insight. The most listens I usually get a month for my top 10 songs is about 200-300. I am totally thrilled by that. The most I ever got was about 1800 when the contest was on. But all of a sudden, "That Used to Be Me," one of the first tracks I posted at IAC, has got almost 2800 listens this month!
If that's true, that totally rocks my world. One part of me is saying, "computer glitch" but I know someone else who's getting a lot of listens, too.
Are others experiencing this? And why?
If you haven't heard "That Used to Be Me," check it out. It's definitely lo-fi with fake drums and all, and I was just learning to use my recording equipment, but I still think it's a darned good bit of songwriting.
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Village Jammers
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1/19/2010 4:11:49 PM
LOL, you, too? I figured it for a glitch somehow, then smiled and said to myself,, "enjoy...it'll get straightened out." I'm gonna bring a printout to rehearsal tonight. It'll be worth a few beers (not that we need an excuse, HA!). Hope it's the real thing for us both, though. Pretty cool.
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/19/2010 7:28:37 PM
I have one with over 3000...first song on my page. If we are all getting spikes, something is off...
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Tao Jones
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1/19/2010 8:20:03 PM
You guys are gonna ruin my dreams...
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Bam Singh
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1/19/2010 9:10:05 PM
Nothing is wrong. This email was sent to the entire membership at the end of 2009:
This is a quick update to let you know about something that we expect will be bringing a noticeable increase in the number of site visitors, and hence, exposure and plays for your songs. IAC has contracted with a company whose sole business is to increase site traffic via search engine optimization techniques plus some proprietary methods, along with targeted advertising. They also work with internet radio stations, getting them listed in key places designed to drive traffic, and appropriate to the various genres. They'll be managing the campaign for us, and all we have to do is assess (and benefit from) the results.
You should begin to see results shortly, so we hope everyone will have a look at their stats now, to get a baseline, and then watch the subsequent results. Let us know how this works for you. If it works well, we'll extend and expand the program.
Best Wishes in the New Year from all of us at IAC!
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Linden
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1/19/2010 10:06:23 PM
Thanks, I'm really enjoying the spikes!
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Kevin White
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1/20/2010 9:04:16 AM
I noticed the jump too, but I remembered that email ... so the first thing I thought of was "it must be working".
With that in mind ...
Is there anyway to harvest deeper data ... like perhaps what stations are performing well and/or where the hit directions are coming from?
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Lars Mars
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1/20/2010 10:11:42 AM
Once a stathead, always a stathead Kev.. no offense meant, I'm a spreadsheet / calculator junkie too... it would be interesting to know.
It'd be nice to know where the fans are... it's a win-win-win-win-win (us, IAC, the marketing company and the stations that are playing us, and the listeners) if we can connect better with listeners and help through visits, links and other connections to sites that are helping us.
Glenn
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The Man With No Band
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1/20/2010 10:21:22 AM
I'm right here Glenn ... LOL !!!!!!!!!
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Tom O'Brien
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1/20/2010 11:27:59 AM
Thanks for the clarification Bam. I do remember that Email but didn't put two and two together.
And thanks to all those at IAC who are working hard on our behalf!
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1/20/2010 12:03:24 PM
Same here. 4 of my tracks have gotten 2500 or more listens this month...very cool
Jay
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/20/2010 12:28:00 PM
---- Updated 1/20/2010 12:30:14 PM
If A tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound? ..
Thats kind of how I feel about these 3000 listens, I have no idea who they are and am getting zero feedback. Its' a good number and all, but I don't feel anything tangible.
I would think if Todd . Jesse. and others with CD'S to sell are getting these listens, they should be able to move a few :)
So to whoever, or whomever is listening...God Bless you...hope you like what you hear...and if you do, Let us know if you can...
Regards,
Jeff
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Richard Scotti
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1/20/2010 5:41:18 PM
These high numbers are nice but I too would love to hear from any of the people who
listening. I agree with everything Jeff just said.
SILENCE THE VIOLENCE 5139 R&B/Soul
BROKEN SKY 4657 Hard Rock
BROTHER JOHN 5047 Classic and Progressive Rock
IN MY EYES 3103 Dance
SILVER WOOD 3333 Classic and Progressive Rock
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KAW Creation
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1/21/2010 2:36:26 AM
Well, I've seen a mild improvement, but nothing like the 1000's being experienced by some. Are these plays reflected in the "what's playing now page" ? or are they going straight from the IAC database to various outlets ?
More importantly, is there an increase in artist page site visits ? That's where it really counts, where the public is identifying with, and connecting with the artist. I don't see an increase in page traffic ? Hmm.......
cheers, niteshift
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KAW Creation
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1/21/2010 2:49:53 AM
---- Updated 1/21/2010 2:52:41 AM
Jeff ( Myers ) , did you get a corrosponding rise of 3000 visitors on your artist page ?
cheers, niteshift
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Lars Mars
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1/21/2010 6:38:19 AM
Sam, gooda cya back in the mix!
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Richard Scotti
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1/21/2010 9:12:39 AM
Page visits have not spiked. They average 20 - 50 visits per page per day and they remain that way so far.
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/21/2010 10:27:35 AM
"Jeff ( Myers ) , did you get a corrosponding rise of 3000 visitors on your artist page ?"
No, there has been no spike in page visits that I can tell.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate every bit of it...it's just that it is just a number to me...It could be a million plays, and if I don't hear from one person its hard to get excited. The spike is mainly one song, the others have remained steady.
Regards,
Jeff
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niteshift
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1/21/2010 10:31:41 AM
Hey Richard,
So, thousands of plays, but no increase in persononal site traffic ? Interesting.
I've got a MapLoco tracker on my page, togehter with the stats from Adwords when I'm doing promos, along with PRWeb, and the counter from IAC, everything seems to gel..... till now.
I like to verify through independant sources. IAC uses tracking code, where it does not publicly disclose site traffic. Perhaps it should.
Transparancy and honesty, in most instances, are well valued.
If, for instance, you happen to get 3K plays on a song, wouldn't you like to know where it's coming from ?
SEO optimisaton is one thing ( and should result in verifiable page loads ) but if my music is being used as a "feed", I'd like to know where, and to whom.
cheers, niteshift
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/21/2010 10:34:41 AM
I just checked the page stats, it looks like it has accelerated a bit. However, if it is coming from page visits, they are not interested in the other songs.... :)
Tom's song is down his page, so it's not a "First song" thing as it is with me.
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Chris Mahon
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1/21/2010 10:40:23 AM
I started a thread about song play transparency ages ago (before this new "spike"), and even sent a question to support. No one seems to have a clear explanation of who exactly is listening to our songs. My page traffic here is ZERO, but I somehow manage to get thousands and thousands of plays every month. I can't help but wonder if these plays are even real...
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Andy Broad
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1/21/2010 11:12:15 AM
I've seen a spike on one particular song, Groovin With The Cats, but I associated that with a recent station add. Still quite a spike for one station add though.
BTW I noticed the daily listen stats had returned a little while ago, now they gone again, shame....
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Bam Singh
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1/21/2010 11:27:17 AM
It appears Chris have songs on about 40 stations, including many of the top ones. Most play here come from stations streaming or individual station song play. The site is station-oriented, but we are working on, as part of this plan, ways to drive traffic to individual pages also.
Visit to song pages is not reflected in artist page visits, yet, but plans are to make an aggregate figure available.
Also, some may remember a brief experiment in displaying locales of visitors to the artist pages. Quickly met with hue and cry, it was removed, but the stats are still being collected. This is being reworked to display only in the Artist Area to the page owner, so that soon.
In like vein, pagevisit and locale stats will soon be tracked for stations and displayed to the station owner. However, one can already infer relative station traffic by looking at station chart rankings. One can also appreciate empirically the correlation between top station placement and associated songplays.
Individual song play listings by day was tried as an experiment a few weeks ago. From the positive reaction it was determined to publish this as a permanent feature. The retrieval, display format, and filtering capability is being programmed, so this popular feature returns, this time with the addition of locale, and in a pleasant and informative vista.
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Black Velvet Lace
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1/21/2010 11:54:28 AM
I do see an increase in plays for Behind Blue Eyes, but it has dropped on it's chart. ::Is bummed::
On the upside Rachel Fuller is blogging again and it's nice to see her daily ::Is smiling::
:D
xox
~Lace~
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/21/2010 12:55:10 PM
---- Updated 1/21/2010 12:57:59 PM
Here is another question...at times a song of mine will spike....in the "Thousands". Empirically speaking, you would think this would result in a rise in the charts...however it seems each time, others are riding the same "wave" so the song does not move.
Also, I can't get past the lack of feedback...you would think a few would reach out in the form of an e-mail or comment on the tag board. Or , a percentage would start stations and add the song...surely 3000 listens can garner one or two people doing this?
Again don't get me wrong, I have songs placed on many stations, and I am grateful for each one. Incredibly so..It is an honor.. I would just think a spike of this magnitude would show up elswhere in the tangible form of a new station add of the song, or some comment here or there. The last station add received was a Christmas song over a month ago.
I am not insinuating the listens are not legit, it is just perplexing...and it may signal the apathy of the average listener....it is just a song to be consumed.
I do love the presentation and the functionality of this site, Iac is my homepage to present my songs on the net..I just would like more feed back as to who is really listening...and what they really think of the tunes. I think most of us as artists want that. I am not talking about reviews or pats on the back....just a bit of feedback. I would like to be in contact with a few listeners in the form of announcements of new songs etc from time to time.. If I had something to promote or sell...even more so. As for now I am just a hobbyist who creates for the sheer joy of it, but all artists like to know how their works are being received.
Respectfully,
Jeff
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Chris Mahon
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1/21/2010 1:17:28 PM
I guess I should make clear that I don't really think the published song play stats are fictitious either. Sorry if I came across that way. But as Jeff says, the lack of information regarding each play leaves plenty of room for speculation.
Thanks to Bam for the info. I get the bit about stations driving song plays. But that being the case, how has my latest song, which I couldn't even get anyone to comment on, and which has not been picked up on a single station (except my own), managed to get over 500 plays so far this month? Again, it makes one wonder...
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Bam Singh
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1/21/2010 1:44:17 PM
We agree that the more information that can be provided, the more useful it is to the artist. We think the new features outlined in my previous post will be a good foot in that direction. The ability to view the source and locale of every individual play, with timestamp, we believe will stimulate analysis and provide some interesting conclusions that artists will want to share.
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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1/21/2010 3:22:57 PM
I'm smiling like a cheshire cat----
Many of ewe posting have songs on Silverwoods group of stations!!!
And our stations are on other sites----so ALL of us benefit!!
we are all about promoting the best music on this site, it works 2 ways, get it?
Rich --I love that 3333 for Silver Wood
kinda makes my day
Good work Bam---I loved those stats that others squirmed at----why not????
Rob
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Kevin White
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1/21/2010 4:50:23 PM
---- Updated 1/21/2010 4:55:41 PM
I just wanted folks to know that I'm the one behind all the plays.
I've been listening 24/7 and I'm exhausted. 3000 listens to one song is enough to drive a person mad in and of itself, never mind not having any time to comment on it.
Still ... to satisfy folks who desire feedback, please apply the following comments to any song. I find after a while, everything follows the same sort of pattern.
Play 1 through 100: Great Stuff! Absolutely terrific!
Play 101 through 1000: Hmmm, this is starting to wear a little thin.
Play 1001 through 2000: Man, that singer is really annoying and the music is cacophonous.
Play 2001 through 3000: I want the song to die a violent death.
If I've happen to get beyond 3000 plays on any song, I've gone numb and just not listening anymore ... or I've fallen asleep ... and I'm twitching fitfully.
I hope this was helpful!
Best,
K-
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1/21/2010 4:53:01 PM
thats what I figured Rob. I noticed that most of the plays came from songs on your stations and one other station.
Given that, however, not too long ago, i pulled all my material from NumberOneMusic where I allegedly had some 378,000 listens. There was always speculation about how real those play counts were and I started noticing a pattern for daily listens and the constant emails from folks that NEVER EVER responded to a return email (3 years). So, when thety tried to auto renew my annual membership, I stopped them, went down to the 3 songs for freebies and waited to see what happened. Suddenly the listens flat out stopped. Not one since then and I eventually pulled the three songs I had left.
Still have a profile there since you cant self delete but it was obvious the play counts were fake.
So this thread got my attention, but was able to quickluy work out what was going on.
Cool beans Rob.
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Chris Mahon
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1/21/2010 5:08:58 PM
I think this is an interesting conversation, and one worth having. I can't help being curious, and sarcastic posts won't put me off. I'm not trying to boost my plays, get attention, or praise. I don't have the time to be here at IAC much, as work and family life take up most of my time. But I do check my plays from time to time, and am consistently surprised at the number, given the effort I put in.
And I still don't get how a song that is on 0 stations, sitting on an artist page that gets 0 views, can get 500 plays in a month. I only ask because I'd like to know. ;p
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Bam Singh
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1/21/2010 5:22:37 PM
It looks like you have 1596 pageviews.
You say you posted asking for comments. Maybe you got some plays out of it. Maybe you have some fans out there!
As I said, soon there will be the daily plays log and you will be able to see the source - that is which website the player originated on, and the locale - that is where the person who requested to play the tune sat at the time of the request. So, from these, you should either be happy or depressed, but at least you will know! :)
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Jeff Allen Myers
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1/21/2010 5:37:20 PM
---- Updated 1/21/2010 5:39:33 PM
"Given that, however, not too long ago, i pulled all my material from NumberOneMusic where I allegedly had some 378,000 listens"
Hah!!! I was going to mention that site, I too was a paying member for a year... My plays were incredible!!! I had people signing up for my Mailing list in droves leaving e-mail addresses.... I always wrote back, no response. fricken bogus.
I stopped my membership, the plays dropped to zero. The songs are still there and can be played! That is very suspicious, hence my distrust of play counts..
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The Man With No Band
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1/21/2010 6:22:41 PM
I only hope that one listen is real and someone enjoyed my tune ... if that is true, I don't care what the play count says ... and I don't care if it's fake, real or anything in between ... I'm really here for the love of music, music I post, music I listen to, music I hear in people's words I read, ....
Most sites have ways (good or bad) to boost numbers ... I figure this place is no different ... at least in that manner ... but this place has far better virtues than any other I have been on ... and this is, and I hope will continue to be, my home ... IMO numbers are NEVER real, they are just numbers ...
I'm not saying that people should all think that way ... or that they don't have the right to ask the questions or feel they need to know the answers ... It's just that in my life ... my experiences have shown it to be better for me to always figure that hardly anything is ever as it appears ... so I try not to pay attention to numbers, or at least not to put to much stock in their accuracy ... If I'm spending time doing that, I'm usually misleading myself, and probably wasting time that I could be actually connected to real things, (like people)
I believe if one has to ask themselves if the traffic is real ... it probably isn't ... but if it turns out to be, or even if one person is truly listening ... then you are doing something right ... and that is all that matters in the end ...
Peace
Sam
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niteshift
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1/21/2010 6:34:07 PM
I'm not interested in bogus play counts or bogus site visits either.
I use the stats for cross refence to check on an advertising campaign, or to see if particular marketing is working. To see how a song is recieved.
I don't care if I get one song play a day, or a thousand. I'll take the one genuine listener any day.
Thank you Bam, for the explanation. If my songs are being used as "feed", that's fine with me, but I'd like to know where, in order to boost or reduce marketing.
The locator gizmo in the shout box was a GREAT idea. If it could be returned on an "opt in" basis, you can count me in. ( scuse the pun :) ) Either that, or put it as a function on the artists sign in page.
Write on !
cheers, niteshift
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The Man With No Band
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1/21/2010 6:44:33 PM
"I use the stats for cross reference to check on an advertising campaign, or to see if particular marketing is working. To see how a song is received.
I don't care if I get one song play a day, or a thousand. I'll take the one genuine listener any day."
I absolutely agree with that Geoff ... and I didn't mean to infer that numbers are completely meaningless or that, especially in marketing, that they do not have their place ... but that's what I mean about numbers ... if there is no feedback or anything real, such as sales or comments to back them up, then one can assume they don't mean much ...
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Bam Singh
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1/21/2010 6:53:08 PM
Niteshift, both of those are being done - an administrative presentation of artistpageviews, with locales; plus an off/on owner-switchable public view of artistpageviews with locales as they occur, in the shoutbox.
Also as mentioned above, the daily plays log will expand on the coverage of the old daily plays log by adding locale in addition to source. The daily plays log will now cover all offsite placements of the player; that is every play reported in the total should also be reflected in the log. Also some abstraction presets will be included.
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Duane Flock
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1/21/2010 7:13:28 PM
I've gotten a few "spike" plays from only a couple of tunes. Everything else is pretty much normal. Last week I did some cleaning up and thinned out my list of the songs not doing so well.
I do like the daily plays and source function though.
As far as feedback and "honest opinion",...... I give away CD's to random people that I may see again over a period of one day a month or so. If I get voluntary feedback without asking for it, I'll take it to heart. I have an email and website address on my CD insert, and to this day have not gotten a reply.
When I play Live, I listen to what most sober people tell me good or bad.
D.
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THE JACK PADDLE COVER BAND
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1/21/2010 7:53:25 PM
It's all bogus if you ask me!!!
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LyinDan
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1/21/2010 8:07:13 PM
By "bogus" do you mean the Universe and everything? I mean, that's "all", isn't it? If so, I agree. It's obvious.
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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1/21/2010 11:11:02 PM
---heh---
I did forget to mention----most of my listeners are sheep
---the feedback is BBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
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Bob Rylett
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1/21/2010 11:49:37 PM
I have just made IAC my home and for the last week I have been in all my glory. I have sincerely listened to you cats for 6 to 8 hours a day for the last week...usually streaming stations and then going to artists pages that grabbed me..It has been fantastic...and not to mention getting added to stations and getting good feedback or much appreciated encouragement.
This is a fantastic place that I have been spreading the word about to musicians and thirsty listeners also...keep up the great work...cheers bob rylett
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Kevin White
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1/22/2010 8:56:40 AM
Hey Chris ... I hope you didn't think my post was being sarcastic.
It was humor based on absurdity, but not intended as sarcasm.
K-
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Conversation Suicide
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1/22/2010 12:33:05 PM
---- Updated 1/22/2010 4:54:51 PM
Yeah who spiked it?
Am I just woozy from the KICK, or is there really a TRIPLE in the number of listeners to Conversation SUicide?
Wake me up when this New-Listeners WET dream is over.....aooooaaagghhhuhhhhh....
i think i just gizzed .... in- my-pants.
"Am I awake??????" , by They Might Be Giants.
ALARMING SPIKES, in the computer generated numbers.... GLITCH? Anomaly? Because of new promotion Company IAC is working with?
IS it ACTUALLY REAL, "spreading the LOVE' as it were, for IAC ARTISTS,
or is it simply that, once again,
Love's Facing Technology
( that's by the mutha-fuckin' CODE, baby!!! )
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The CODE
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1/22/2010 4:29:23 PM
There is a reason for everything!
;-)
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