Do you have a favorite song? I assume it is pretty catchy and you hum it all the time. At least, that happens to me. You can catch me dancing and singing my favorite songs all the time: when I am brushing my teeth, in the shower, doing homework, you name it! Well, a lot of these hit songs take a lot of work to put together behind the scenes. I used to always think hit songs just needed a singer, but songs need a producer, composer, singer, and more. What I found out recently was that these hit songs often use a Music Data Analyst. These analysts use, follow, and develop common algorithms that make songs “catchy.” They are one of the biggest reasons so many pop songs go viral and get stuck in your head! “One major music streaming service has a team dedicated to analyzing its growing mounds of data and building algorithms for giving users more of what they want. To be a research lead on such a team, most companies require an advanced degree in math, science, or computer science.” The Music Data Analysts might now be well now, but that doesn’t define how interesting their job is! According to gigaom.com, analytics is about 17.4% in data science careers. Music Data Analysts are included in that 17.4%. This choice of career is not as simple as it seems if you want to be a successful music data analyst. The first step is to get a bachelor’s degree that uses analytical and statistical thinking (such as math or computer science), then one must learn data analyst skills. Get certification, a simple data-analyst job, and finally earn your master’s degree.
-- Shriya Rudraraju