SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Slacker, the world’s most complete music service, is bringing the top 40 charts into the digital age with the Slacker EQ score. In a world where access to music is quickly trumping ownership, the Slacker EQ is the most accurate reflection of a song’s trending popularity and listener engagement in today’s world of streaming music. Slacker EQ scores will be released every Thursday, tracking the 40 most engaging tracks across multiple genres from the previous week, and will be available at blog.slacker.com/EQ.
A number from one to 100, the Slacker EQ score measures hundreds of millions of weekly data points to show how deeply users are engaging with a particular song, based on specific positive and negative actions, including:
- Starts – the number of times a song was started on the Slacker service
- Completes – the number of times a song was listened to in its entirety
- Hearts – the number of times a user “hearts” a track, requesting to hear it more frequently
- Shares – the number of times a user shares a track via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest or email
- Skips – the number of times a song is skipped before reaching completion
- Changes – the number of times a user changes the station when a song plays
- Bans – the number of times a song or artist is banned from playing again
“The majority of people stream music and old charting methods capture sales or basic streams which only tell a fraction of the story,” said Jack Isquith, Slacker’s senior vice president of content programming and strategic development. “As access to music trumps ownership for consumers, engagement quickly becomes the most important metric for what’s hot and trending. Slacker EQ provides fans, artists and labels a real-time understanding of not only what consumers are listening to, but how they’re interacting with music, and how their actions change over time.”
Do people choose to listen to the same songs dominating terrestrial radio airtime? Does an appearance on Saturday Night Live increase engagement with an artist? Does an artist’s exploits in the tabloids impact people’s affinity for a track? These are trends the Slacker EQ can help the industry decipher. It will rank the 40 most engaging songs across the Slacker service each week, alongside top 40 lists based on engagement for six genres, including Pop, Rock, Country, Hip Hop/R&B, Alternative/Indie and Electronic/Dance.
Slacker has also launched a station that counts down the 40 most engaging songs every week, available at: http://www.slacker.com/station/the-slacker-top-40
Only Slacker could deliver a metric as thorough as EQ. The most complete music service on Earth offers listeners the most options for interacting with music, including streaming radio and/or on-demand access to a massive library of more than 13 million songs, with new tracks added daily, often long before other services. A music guide and fine-tuning tools let listeners easily discover new music or add news, sports and talk content from ABC and ESPN. Slacker’s team of expert music curators also constantly update Slacker’s more than 200 genre and specialty stations so the music is always new, fresh and surprising.
Slacker is also the only digital music service that has billing and distribution deals with every major North American wireless provider, including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular. In addition, Slacker is available in vehicles produced by major automotive manufacturers including Ford, GM, Chrysler Group, Acura, Honda, Scion, Subaru and Tesla.
For more information about Slacker or to listen for free, visit www.slacker.com.
About Slacker
Slacker is the most complete music service on Earth. The company delivers free and subscription-based access to millions of songs and hundreds of expert-programmed stations, plus news, sports and talk, on the web, mobile devices, in-car infotainment systems and consumer electronics platforms. By blending a team of expert music curators and content programmers with cutting-edge analytics, Slacker delivers a seamless music discovery experience and uniquely personalized entertainment. Slacker was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego with offices in Palo Alto, CA and New York City. For more information about Slacker, or to listen for free, visit www.slacker.com.
