
Today we’re heading to Hoboken, New Jersey, to speak with Chris Dalla Riva, who works at the fascinating intersection of music and data. He’s a Senior Product Manager at the streaming service Audiomack, and the writer behind the popular newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. His work has been featured by The Economist and NPR, and you might know him as the guy who set off an internet-wide debate about the decline of key changes in popular music.
In our conversation today, we get into some incredible territory. We’ll discuss his research into the Billboard charts that reveals the surprising moment Black artists began to dominate popular music.
We’ll also discover how his company, Audiomack, is outperforming giants like Spotify across Africa with one simple, yet crucial, feature. And we’ll hear about the book that came from his personal quest to analyse every single Billboard number one hit since 1958.
Listen now to The Intersection of Music and Data
You can also listen to it on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or any other player.
Show notes
- Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-dalla-riva-114ab078/
- Website: https://www.chrisdallariva.com/uncharteUncharted d
- The free and open spreadsheet with all Billboard Top 100 from 1958: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j1AUgtMnjpFTz54UdXgCKZ1i4bNxFjf01ImJ-BqBEt0/edit?gid=1077686609#gid=1077686609
Keep the podcast and musictinking.com running & ad-free
The most valuable support you can offer is to continue listening and sharing the podcast. For years, my goal has been to share all the ideas from Music Thinking freely and without hassle, and that will never change.
However, if this podcast has sparked an idea, offered a new perspective, or provided a tool you’ve found useful. You can now show your appreciation and help sustain the show through our new Ko-fi page.
Your support, whether a one-time ‘coffee’ or a monthly membership, makes a huge difference. Thank you for being part of this journey. Please buy me a coffee, support Music Thinking on Ko-fi:
https://ko-fi.com/musicthinking
