Partners Combine Music Sales and Social Media Data

Two music industry specialists, distribution agency IODA and social media analytics firm Next Big Sound (NBS) have announced a partnership to link digital sales information from online retailers with key usage metrics from social media sites such as Twitter and Last.fm.

NBS pulls data including plays, views, fans and comments from online sites to measure the growth and popularity of bands online; and sells these insights to band managers and other industry professionals.

Last October, the firm raised an undisclosed sum in venture capital, which it used to recruit developers and system administrators tasked with expanding its technology.

Through the new partnership, NBS will integrate IODA's sales activity data into its Premier analytics platform, to provide clients with access to real-time, social media activity alongside their sales data from digital retailers such as iTunes.

The companies say that this will enable IODA clients to see when and where their online social media strategy is effectively driving sales.

'Next Big Sound has created a groundbreaking new application that taps social media to put valuable online data about fans into the hands of our artists and labels,' states IODA founder and CEO Kevin Arnold. 'By integrating this application with IODA's sales analytics, our clients can adjust their marketing strategies in real time, prioritizing what may be scarce resources accordingly.'

NBS CEO Alex White says the partnership has already provided IODA's independent artists and labels with an 'important business advantage'.

Web sites: www.iodalliance.com and www.nextbigsound.com .