Top Musicians Data

Income Data stratified by Social Media Presence

Our data examines different income metrics from the highest paid musical artists in the world. We then compared that data to the artists' corresponding Instagram followers to determine whether or not a significant correlation exists between generating revenue and the utilization of social media platforms.

Hypothesis:

We believe that a positive correlation likely exists between income and Instagram followers. As an artists accumulates a greater social media presence, their income metrics are likely to rise as well.

First analysis: Income

For the world’s most popular musical artists, the potential for generating revenue can extend into the tens of millions and beyond. The graph below depicts the top 20 highest paid artists, showing Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and Ed Sheeran leading the list with yearly incomes of over 100 million dollars. The rest tend to fall into the range of 50 to 100 million. (Disclaimer - both graphs have the same income data, though graph 2 accounts for followers data as well)

There are multiple revenue streams that successful musicians will use nowadays. Artists can bring in cash through sales, streaming, publishing, and touring. The proportions between these different income streams vary for each artist. The goal here is to identify where the bulk of musicians' money comes from, then estimate social media's effect on that income stream.
  • Explanation
    As the graph shows, the largest revenue stream across the data for each artist was in touring. This metric was significantly higher than the other three income streams for almost every artist. This makes sense considering the staggering money a musician can make with each concert on a tour. The artists with a larger social media presence, in theory, would be able to generate more revenue while touring by more effectively advertising for their shows.

Second analysis: Instagram Followers

The graphs below depict the average yearly income metrics from above side-by-side with Instagram followers for each artist. In the bar graph, income is once again ordered greatest to least. Upon initial examination, it appears that no significant correlation exists between social media and income. Jay-Z, for example, makes as much money per year as Beyonce, though Beyonce has over 200 million Instagram followers while Jay-Z doesn’t even have an account. The plotly scatter plot also shows no positive correlation between the two factors.

Touring and Streaming Revenue
  • Touring
    As previously mentioned, it would make sense if the artists with the largest social media presences had the most successful tours. Unfortunately, the data again shows that even touring revenue and Instagram followers don’t have a significant correlation.
  • Streaming
    One last piece of data that we chose to analyze in conjunction with followers was streaming revenue. We did this because the artists with the largest social media platforms would likely be more efficient in advertising their content to users. However, the data again shows no correlation.

Conclusions

Number Conclusions
1. An insignificant correlation likely exists between income and social media presence for high-paid musicians.
2. Artists that have significant name recognition and rose to fame before the age of social media (e.g. Jay-Z, Billy Joel, Kanye West) likely don't need to rely on social media as much to promote their content.
3. Artists are likely to generate similar levels of revenue while touring regardless of whether or not they use their personal social media accounts to promote their concerts.
4. Artists that were popular in the past (e.g. The Eagles, Metallica) but can still generate significant revenue show that followers are likely insignificant in developing revenue streams.
5. Most content advertising for big-name artists isn’t self-generated.
6. The number of social media followers likely doesn’t have the financial impact on the music industry that many may believe it has.