Though many people still listen to terrestrial radio, maybe even prefer to do so, it's clear that internet radio and social networking sites with music components have been on the rise for years now. Keeping this in mind, it's always a little frustrating to use the "definitive" music charting mainstay Billboard to learn of a song or artist's popularity. Some of their data is based on digital downloads, yes, but it does not take into consideration internet radio play on services like IMEEM, MySpace or blog discussions of particular songs. Networked Insights, a Wisconsin-based upstart, has devised a program that calculates data based on how people play, use, and share music online. The claim that listeners online have different tastes than those off-line is an easy assumption to make since access to new, independent and overlooked music is so easy on the internet. Now there is some data to reflect this. Your move, Billboard. [WRD]
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