The music industry is subject to hype. Statistics can separate the hype from the reality. Of interdisciplinary, ACO Music Data & Analysis enables clear assessment of the impact of music on society. Used at universities around the world in music courses, business courses and social studies as well as modern history (What was the impact of protest songs during the Vietnam war?)

1. A resource for Multidisciplinary
Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Converting Information to Knowledge

2. New! Use of Statistics in the Humanities and
Social Sciences
ACO Music Data & Analysis is built to tell the story of music and
society over the last 60 years.
Using revolutionary statistical analysis, for the first time
researchers will find evidence to test and demonstrate their
theories about the impact of music on society and vice versa.
Authoritative data sources enable assessment of the impact of
music – superimposition of different artists in different countries
reveals what actually happened.

3. Benefits: turning information into
knowledge
Music Data
Authoritative data measuring relative success of different artists, bands, songs
and albums can be exported in spreadsheets for further analysis.
Social Sciences frequently rely on interpretation. Now for the first time users can
see the actual relative sales of artists and albums in multiple countries to
derive knowledgeable insights.
Analysis
The graphic results reveal what really happened. Analysis delivers insights and
turns the information into knowledge.
- Which musicians had the greatest impact in each decade?
- Which classical performers had most impact with Beethoven?
- Did a band get a boost from the Grammys?
- How do musical trends travel across the world?
- What other music was prominent at the time of Bridge Over Troubled Water
but is now forgotten?

4. Cross Disciplinary Study
Music is a driver of social trends.
Data without analysis is just a bucket of data! ACO uses the relative
performance of music to tell the story of its impact. The actual story,
rather than the hype...
There is great interest in how music actually succeeds when the hype is
separated from the reality. This is only possible through analysis of the data.
Customers are using ACO across these disciplines
- Cultural Studies
- Modern History
- Entertainment and Media
- Business - Music and entertainment industry
- Film Studies
- Humanities and Social Sciences

5. Derive Insights
Modern History
Study the impact of protest songs during the Vietnam
war in the modern history department.
Classical – music business
See which of Lang Lang's albums had the greatest
impact – Chopin or Liszt
Social Studies – the rise of grunge rock
Analyse when Nirvana overtook Michael Jackson in the
early 90s and which other influences were prominent

6. Turn information into knowledge about
the industry and social trends
Trends across countries
In addition to North America (USA and Canada)
now includes data from UK and Central
Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and
Asia being added next. Most of the archival
data is not available on websites. As ACO
grows cross cultural issues come into clearer
focus.
The British invasion of America in the 1960's

7. Cross Disciplinary relevance:
Music has a very wide impact
Music research needs to be grounded in information (not a hunch...)
“...will make many music librarians wonder how we got by without it
until now.” (MLA Review)
…but the data increasingly takes on relevance in other disciplines - any
serious music, entertainment business, cultural studies and modern
history course will need ACO to attract the best students.
“Introduces fascinating research questions which could not be
answered before.” (University of Western Ontario)
“Any curious researcher exploring music and
culture will find a fascinating trove of information here.” Booklist

8. For the first time researchers can use a powerful tool to
answer research questions. Replace hype and 'gut feel'
with data & analysis.
Convert the information to knowledge.
“Time saving - what takes a day of picking through the
books takes a minute in ACO.” (LCCM)