Today, what's hot in music isn't necessarily what's on Billboard's Hot 100--often considered the industry's benchmark ranking index. For one, most indie acts won't ever sell enough CDs to rank among the world's Justin Biebers or Lady Gagas. But also, we're purchasing fewer and fewer physical albums, even if we're consuming more music. A Nielsen study out Wednesday showed that music sales unexpectedly rose by 1.6% in 2011--an increase driven largely by a healthy surge in digital sales. And sales only scratch the surface of determining what's popular in the digital age.
Take a new chart released by Google today called the YouTube 100. The chart tracks songs across "official music videos, user-uploaded videos and viral debuts, and uses this data to provide a holistic view of song popularity." Indeed, in the current top 10, users will find not only superstars like Katy Perry but meme-worthy acts such as Rebecca Black of "Friday" fame.
The YouTube 100 joins the ranks of many other services trying to improve the way we chart popularity in the music industry using non-traditional metrics. Media measurement firm Big Champagne, for example, recently released the Ultimate Chart, which culls data from a slew of digital sources: Amazon downloads, Vevo views, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and more. In December, MTV launched its own Music Meter, a ranking that tracks social media buzz and streaming data to deliver a real-time portrait of an artist's popularity. And other services like We Are Hunted base their rankings on everything from social networks and blogs to message boards and P2P networks.
The trend is clear: CD sales are an outmoded indicator of success.
"The notion of tracking sales and correlating that to success is a bit antiquated," Vevo CEORio Caraeff told Fast Company recently. "There's no single indicator you can look at now--you must look at everything."
COMMENTARY: Jennifer Lopez made No 1 on the YouTube 100 is no surprise. Her "On The Floor" video is on fire with 164 million+ video views. No way, dude!!
It doesn't hurt that she is also a talent judge on American Idol. After two babies, she looks hot as ever. She was also named to the Top 100 Most Beautiful Women in 2009.
I know there are a lot of Lady Gaga fanatics out there so I haven't forgotten you. Here's Lady Gaga's No 2 YouTube music Video, "Judas".
Here's my personal favorite--Bebel Gilberto's "So Nice". She's the sexiest and most beautiful Brazilian singer I have ever seen.
Courtesy of an article dated May 12, 2011 appearing in Fast Company
The public still loves J.Lo.
Posted by: insurance websites | 05/18/2011 at 07:00 PM