research

It’s always fascinated me to hear what people think about my music, especially outside the generally protective realm of family, friends, and known fans. In any random and anonymous large group there is going to naturally be good, bad, and ugly responses. It’s important to me to try and get some sense how the songs from my new album, This Journey, would hold up against the mass of music releases the market is constantly assaulted with. Is it actually as good as I think it is? Specifically, which songs are getting the best responses and should thus be put forward to make a good first impression of the new release?

I used a professional music market research firm through Soundout.com to try and get some answers. For each song submitted, I not only received some good market comparison stats, but also the actual unedited comments from the 80+ listeners (who generally seem to have somewhat of a discerning ear and thoughtful comments, though it’s not clear if they are music industry related somehow or not – regardless, it’s completely anonymous).