In a new research paper entitled “Does Chatter Matter? The Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales” NYU Stern Professor Vasant Dhar and student Elaine Chang find that the volume of blog posts featured on the Internet before an album’s release can significantly affect future album sales, and in turn predict sales for record labels. This is the first study to quantify the economic impact of user-generated content for the music industry.

Based on a sample of 108 albums released during the first two months of 2007 they found:

- When legitimate blog posts exceeded a threshold of 40 before an album’s release, sales were three times the average
- If the albums blogged about were associated with a major record label, sales increased five-fold
- When blog activity reached more than 250 posts, sales were six times the average regardless of an association with a major or independent label
- The number of an artist’s MySpace friends also contributed to higher future sales, but had a weaker correlation as compared to blog chatter

They tracked changes in the volume of online chatter—blog posts and the number of friends an artist has on MySpace—four weeks before and after an album’s release date.

Download the full article.



Media Coverage

Hollywood Reporter: "Study: Blogs help album sales"
February 13, 2008

PC World: "Blog chatter can triple music sales"
February 13, 2008

Computerworld: "Blog Chatter Can Triple Music Sales"
February 8, 2008

Blog Hits

Ars Technica: "Blog, social network buzz correlates to better album sales"
February 9, 2008

Daily Tech: "Study shows that the more blog posts an album gets, the more sales are made"
February 8, 2008

Digital Journal.com: "Study Shows Blog Buzz Directly Related to How Well An Album Sells"
February 10, 2008

Digital Media Wire: "Study: Blog Chatter Can Triple Album Sales"
February 11, 2008

60 Second Science: "Bloggers can help sell music; influentials can't; I'll take cash to write about Bright Eyes"
February 12, 2008

Adotas: "NYU Study Shows the Power of Viral Marketing"
February 7, 2008

Augustine's Online Scrapbook: "Word-of-Mouth Web Promotions Boost Record Sales. Go Figure."
February 11, 2008

Cossacks Breaking News: "Study: Blogging About Music May Triple its Sales"
February 8, 2008

Covert Curiosity: "Music Blogs = Album Sales"
February 11, 2008

Dissonance: Thoughts, comments and treatise on Music Biz 2.0: "Blogging Your Way To the Top of the Charts"
February 9, 2008

Entertainment Blog: "Blog, social network buzz correlates to better album sales"
February 12, 2008

G4-The Feed: "Daily Wrap-Up"
February 11, 2008

Gerd Leonhard - The Future of Media, Technology & Communication: "Study: Blog Chatter Can Triple Album Sales- Digital Media Wire"
February 12, 2008

Kofi's Hat: "Say, Heard About That Forthcoming Album Dropping Soon?!?"
February 12, 2008

Kristin's Blog: "It's true! 'Chatter Does Matter'"
February 8, 2008

MyMediaMusings: "Tipping Point continues to tip"
February 10, 2008

Netmix: "Blog Chatter Can Triple Future Sales of Music Albums"
February 12, 2008

News From the Music Industry: "NYU Researchers Study Music Blog Buzz"
February 12, 2008

No Dessert For You: "It's quite a responsibility, being this powerful"
February 8, 2008

PennLive.com: "Influentials--or lots of bloggers--affect music sales"
February 12, 2008

Peter Black's Freedom to Differ: "A hardly surprising finding"
February 10, 2008

Projector Films - new ideas for film makers: "Obviously"
February 8, 2008

Shop Talk: "Influentials--or lots of bloggers--affect music sales"
February 12, 2008

Spacelab: "Blogs, Social Networking Sites Lead to Higher Music Sales"
February 2008

The9513.com: "Do blogs have an impact on music sales?"
February 12, 2008

They Were All Taken...again: "Keep reading, you're helping album sales."
February 11, 2008

Top Ten Sources: "NYU Researchers Study Music Blog Buzz"
February 11, 2008

What's New In?: "Word-Of-Mouth Web Promotions Boost Record Sales. Go Figure."
February 10, 2008

Word of Mouth Marketing Association: "NYU Study Proves that Viral Chatter Matters"
February 11, 2008

YetAnotherMusicWeblog: "Blog, Social Network buzz correlates to better album sales"
February 10, 2008