The first round of data to come from a partnership between BandPage and streaming service Rhapsody — which uses information about which artists listeners like in order to target and deliver push notifications to those users’ phones — could signal the entrance of a new way to generate revenue in the digital streaming industry.
BandPage claims in its announcement that these push notifications, which alert “super fans” about concerts and “special experiences” like meet-and-greets, generate a much higher clickthrough rate (CTR) than Google search ads, Facebook posts and typical web banner ads. In June, BandPage CEO J Sidertold Billboard that within the smaller world of push notifications from streaming services, fans were three times more likely to open their data-driven notifications than those typically served by streaming services.
In a statement, Rhapsody senior director of Traffic & Demand Greg Spils says the company also saw a 50 percent higher engagement rate with this type of messaging, in addition to the marketing-centric clickthrough rate mentioned above. (The company didn’t disclose its baseline engagement rate on similar messaging.) The pair say that increase is due to the data crunch happening behind the scenes, allowing Rhapsody and BandPage very specific targets and timing (such as when a user is listening to that artist) for the pop-ups, giving the program a much higher likelihood of appealing to fans.
“Taylor Swift and others say they need more value from streaming — this is an incredibly clear answer to that,” Sider tells Billboard.
Currently, Rhapsody is the only company to have implemented the technology, despite BandPage’s myriad partnerships across the industry. “We partner with a lot of streaming services,” Sider says, “and I know from talking with them that they care about helping musicians. I think we’re just at the very beginning. This is the first time this is has been presented as a possibility, really.”
