The New Music Discovery [Deborah Jourdon, Deezer]

Digital music streaming and social media have created huge new opportunities for grassroots discovery, says Deborah Jourdon, Deezer's VP of Marketing Communications. citing the growth and popularity of human curated playlists; and Deezer's unique Flow feature, which combines machine learning and human curation.

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Guest post by Deborah Jourdan, VP of Marketing Communications at Deezer

Discovering new music has consistently played a defining role in music history.  While our musical tastes are typically influenced by our older siblings and parents; music discovery is largely driven by what our friends and influencers share with us.  Historically, music influencers have always existed and were relied on to recommend new music. This dates back as early as religious leaders, who introduced monks to the Gregorian chant, moving through to the radio and talk show hosts such as Dick Clark who introduced rock & roll to American TV sets nationwide and to club DJs  -  who have acted as gatekeepers to unknown talent and underground artists. However, this all changed with the arrival of digital music streaming and social media – as both platforms have evolved, and as our listening habits have changed, so has the way we discover new music.

The mainstream use of both technologies has created a huge opportunity for grassroots discovery and has given people the ability to explore new artists, songs, and trends without having to commit to buying an entire album, wait for a favorite song on the radio,  or be limited to live concerts. This has ultimately shaken up the music industry and transformed how, where, and when music is discovered, giving streaming services like Deezer the opportunity to lead the charge in giving music fans the chance to set the music agenda themselves.

140 Million Playlists On Deezer

Social media has allowed people to share the discovery of new artists and music, contributing to the success and popularity of these emerging artists, songs, and even genres. This increase in sharing allows for anyone to become a musical tastemaker, as long as they understand how to effectively engage with popular distribution channels and content curation. To date, Deezer users have created nearly 140 million playlists and, just in the last six months, there has been an 18% increase in streams of user-created playlists. Now more than ever before, users are discovering new music and sharing corresponding playlists, enabling these musical curators to find other individuals who share their music taste and further increasing the size of their influence.

Deezer consistently aims to bring attention to grassroots and undiscovered artists who would have likely struggled to receive any attention or recognition in the past, giving these artists a real platform to shine. Deezer’s own music editors from around the world constantly monitor what fans, influencers, and tastemakers are listening to, liking and sharing. They then use this knowledge to identify new trends and undiscovered artists, as well as to curate playlists for music fans to enjoy. In the U.S., over 80% of playlists streams on Deezer are from curated editor playlists and, in the last year, daily streams per user of these curated playlists have increased by 33%.

These rare, undiscovered talents, new trends, and popular tracks are also incorporated into Deezer’s unique Flow feature, which is the perfect combination of man and machine. Built on the idea that music should be a more intelligent, exciting and natural experience, instead of being limited to a certain number of tracks or themes, Deezer Flow analyzes millions of music tracks in a matter of seconds to curate a non-stop, press-and-play soundtrack – ultimately providing listeners with the most personalized soundtrack possible. With one of the largest and the most diverse and dynamic music catalogue (over 43 million songs), Flow constantly introduces music fans to new and exciting tracks, styles, and artists to enjoy and share with their friends, fans and followers.

"The best music recommendations come from human music fans" 

Ultimately, we at Deezer believe that the best music recommendations come from human music fans – the new generation of curators who have so successfully pinpointed new artists, tracks and trends and shared for others to discover. Regardless of whether you’re listening to your personalized Flow or an editor-curated playlist, the music discovered, shared and streamed on Deezer has all been curated by a music fan. We encourage users to make their own mark on music history by continuing the digital age of sharing and discovery; an age where truly anyone can be a curator.

Deborah Jourdan is VP of Marketing Communications, North America, at Deezer, and leads all consumer and channel marketing. She is responsible for increasing business and marketing opportunities through partnerships and direct to consumer activation.

Prior to joining Deezer, Jourdan led consumer marketing for Cricket Wireless, including the launch of Muve Music. Before Cricket, she also worked at PHD Media where she was VP, Associate Media Director and led media planning for major brands such as Vlasic, Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s, Duncan Hines, as well as Cricket.

Jourdan earned her B.S. in Marketing at Bradley University and is a board member at Rebuilding Together Metro Denver and a member of Association of National Advertisers.