British Gospel music has now well and truly entered the digital era, but as an industry, is it prepared to embrace the technology that forms part of thus eco system? Hundreds of tracks are released, some on a wing and a prayer and others as part of a calculated budget-based marketing strategy.
Pardon the pun, but a Gospel hit in the UK could be on a similar level to searching for the Holy Grail.
Experts within the industry often cite a number of reasons for this lack of hits such as poor quality, lack of investment and perhaps the debate that Britain is just not primed like it’s American counterparts to engage with Gospel music. It could be cultural in nature. Music media expert Ryan Bruce thinks that education is the key.
Perhaps British Gospel should seek and pursue the services of music data scientists?
Echo Nest (web image above) is a data analysis company that was founded in 2005 and acquired by music streaming giants Spotify, in 2014. At the basis of the technology is the application of algorithms that can predict whether a song will be popular or advance to the higher regions of the national charts. To be more technical, web crawling and data mining can determine what consumers are listening to and from this, record companies can shape songs and music around demand. The Echo Nest Scientists provide a service to companies such as VEVO, BBC, MTV and Nokia.
The technology has been applied to the British dance music scene with amazing effects.
Could the Gospel industry in Britain benefit or even gain a much needed boost or injection from the scientific community?
