Is Fatigue Setting In During Your Music Test?

Why wonder?

One of the concerns some programmers have about music research is the possibility that people will get fatigued during a music test, and test scores will fall off. Obviously, the more songs in a test, the greater the concern.

I've just added to MusicVISTA a Fatigue Analysis report. This report will track how the average score changed during the course of the test.

For the station whose report is displayed above, there was a slightly higher score for the first group of 100, but then no fatigue is evident, right through to the 601-700 group. That suggests that for this station, the number of songs tested was probably not too high.

One thing I've noticed over the years: Programmers often put stronger music in the first group of songs. That, of course, will and should increase the average score of the first group. If that bothers you, mix up the test order very thoroughly.

Two other notes:

I'm breaking the test up into halves, then groups of 100 songs, and finally groups of just 25 songs each.

This report will track any test result. Examples: You can look at burn. You can see if "favorite" ratings fall off during the test.

Fiddling About

More fiddling about with MusicVISTA. Blame Metheny.

Saved views of the AMT results, which I call "Favorites" like they do in the browser world, now preserve column widths.

Selecting songs for category assignments has been enhanced. You can use CONTROL + CLICK to pick songs that are not contiguous. That's the way spreadsheets like Excel work.

They say you should try and improve things 1% a day. I agree!

What Do They Remember?

 

I have to admit, I haven’t tried this myself. But it seems to me that it is a technique with potential.

1. Prior to a focus group, prepare a special tape.

This should include a series of audio elements you’re interested in. Perhaps some content from on-air talent, like weather, promotion of upcoming songs and/or contests. A couple of actual promos, announcements about special programming like the Top 8 At 8. Put in shortened songs (cut down to about 1 minute total, but with full intro and fade). You may wish to eliminate actual call letters/station name.

2. Total length: 10-15 minutes.

3. As the respondents show up and take their seats, have this play in the background, but loud enough to hear clearly.

4. Make sure that it plays at least one time through for everybody. Many focus group moderators have the respondents fill out a short questionnaire right at the beginning. This could play through that process.

5. Proceed with the focus group.

Here is the fun part:

6. After about a half hour, when there is a natural break: Ask people to take a sheet of paper and write down everything they can remember hearing on the “radio” that was playing in the background when they first came in.

7. Have them pass these sheets to you.

8. Then, you can start a discussion.

I am told that people have been shocked by how little people can recall. I’m also told that they remember best things that clearly benefit them.

I admit that I’m a little surprised that I’ve never personally seen this technique used. But I think it is likely to be a great way to get people to talk about what content actually matters to them.

Finally: If you have any experience with this or something similar, I'd love to hear from you.

She Doesn't Tune Out the Commercials

One of the female respondents in the Arbitron/Jacobs 'Bedroom Project' study said something I found very interesting.

She explained that she tuned away from the commercials when she listened to FM 'song stations'.

But she also said that she stuck through the commercials on the FM talk station. Why?

She didn't want to miss what the personality would have to say immediately upon coming back from commercials.

Okay, fellow music guys. This is definitely a challenge.

It only makes sense that it would be ideal if the listeners were anticipating something that they would not want to take a chance on missing. So they don't dare tune away.

A talk show host can promote the upcoming discussion of a controversial topic or point, or an exciting guest.

What can we say on a music station that will make them anticipate what's on the other side of the commercials?

Think about it. Getting this right can be very important. Agree?

The Metheny Mods

I love it when clients really exercise the MusicVISTA software in the course of implementing their music tests.

I love it even more when they find bugs, better ways of doing things, and offer suggestions for new features. Recently, Kevin Metheny, Vice President of Programming for Clear Channel, Cleveland did just that.

I now have a list of great ideas. When implemented, every client will benefit.

I haven't found the time to pursue all of them, but I can report that MusicVISTA has new upgrades in the following area:

• Category filtering
• Filtering relationships
• Filter labeling
• Favorite views
• Notes

"Thank you!" to Kevin.

If you are a client, I urge you to think about the things that slow you down when you implement your music tests. Make some notes. Pass them along.

Even if you're not a client, you can do the same. I'll even send you a demo of the MusicVISTA software, if you want to compare it with the tools you're using today.

My passion is taking good feedback from listeners and turning it into a plan that makes the on-air sound as good as possible. A large part of that is making it easy for you, as a programmer, to do your job.

So keep those suggestions coming!