Music & Audio

Colourtext are experts in music and audio research. Our Work aims to capture and understand the subtleties of passion and behaviour that drive people's love of music.

Audiophiles

We do everything from music testing for broadcast radio, developing formats for music-based reality TV shows, creating music genre maps and building data analytics strategies for music streaming services.

We focus on using data to capture the subtleties of passion and behaviour that drive people's love of music. We have charted the transition from vinyl to CD, MP3 filesharing to streaming subscriptions and back again to premium vinyl sales.

The more you love something, the better you tend to become at it. Colourtext is lucky to have enjoyed a long-term love affair with music & audio research.

Word count matters in audio

Colourtext has used a never-seen-before dataset to uncover new insights about the impact of word density on the effectiveness of audio advertising. When audio ads reduce their word rate creative standout rises, which in turn boosts campaign web response. 
 

Spotify Listening Trends

We’ve always been fascinated by music streaming behaviour on Spotify and the window it opens up on evolving music trends.

Thanks to streaming data supplied by RadioMonitor, we’ve created a regular and independent analysis of the most popular artists, tracks and music genres requested by Spotify’s users in the UK.

Music genre map

Colourtext has used a network-based algorithmic solution to unify a bunch of disparate, manually produced artist genre classifications into a new map of popular music.

The map has helped us figure out how niche music definitions like Shoegaze, Goregrind and Riot Grrrl etc. all relate to each other and fit into a wider landscape of popular music culture.

Why do people still listen to radio?

A growing range of streaming and podcast apps provide listeners with customisable audio content, social features and, in many cases, advert-free content. With all this choice it's a wonder so many of us still listen to conventional radio. So why do we?

Music radio trends

Colourtext recently developed a new UK Music Trends Dashboard for the BBC that uses RadioMonitor playlist data to produce a strategic picture of how the UK's music radio market has evolved over the last 5 years.

We've created an edited 'lite' version of the dashboard for you to play with.

Our work

From developing the world's biggest music consumer segmentation to working on the world's biggest music talent show, Colourtext is trusted to deliver for some of the most influential brands in music & audio. Click on the images below to learn more about the work we do.

Sony Music

Sony Music - the world’s biggest and longest running market segmentation model of global music consumers, which now operates in 42 national markets.

American Idol

Colourtext partnered with brand change experts Innovation Pipeline to develop an audience segmentation of U.S. reality TV viewers. Our client was Fremantle, the makers of American Idol and the world’s biggest reality TV entertainment show.

Warner Group Music

A FECI segmentation and Fan Map of music consumers for Warner Music Group that scaled globally but also adapted sensitively to local cultures and markets.

Word Count Matters

Word Count Matters in audio.

Mark Uttley
Group Strategy Director, AKQA, San Francisco, US

"Colourtext always take a fresh approach to discovering hidden patterns in data. Whether you want to conduct segmentation or mine your CRM for deep insights, they will help you see your customers , and what they are seeing , in new ways."

Joaquim Bretcha
International Director of Netquest and President of ESOMAR, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

"Colourtext and Netquest have partnered on different occasions to showcase the power of the digital behavioural data extracted from Netquest’s consumer panel. Colourtext has not only the expertise of dealing with big datasets but also has brilliant creativity to make the most sense out of them. Working with Colourtext is a rich, agreeable and easy going experience"

Mark Barber MBE
Planning Director, RadioCentre, London, UK

"More than a decade of success for Radiog auge across the world is a testament to Colourtext’s experience and perseverance. There are many obstacles to creating a global currency for measuring radio advertising effectiveness - Colourtext has managed to tackle all of them."

"It’s rare to find research companies that really understand the unique radio / listener relationship and what makes radio advertising work. With experience of researching the medium on both sides of the fence, Colourtext is one of those rare companies."

Simone Lawrence
Director of Insights, Canadian Broadcast Sales, Toronto, Canada

Colourtext has an agile approach to research that ensures a successful outcome to every challenge CBS gives them. The depth of experience and understanding the Colourtext team brings to each study demonstrates their value in the audio space. We have a very positive nine year working relationship behind us that has created significant value for CBS and our clients. We remain committed to working with Colourtext in the coming years.

Jon Puleston
Vice President of Innovation, Kantar Profiles, London, UK

It's rare to find a partner with the mix of analytical, technological and creative skills offered by Colourtext. Jason and his team seem to roam around freely in data, find the stories that matter and bring a distinctive aesthetic vision to the presentation of information.