How Spotify chimes with the nation’s mood

THE type of music downloaded on Spotify is being used to gauge the public’s mood, the Bank of England’s chief economist has disclosed.

Andy Haldane said researchers were increasingly monitoring internet music streaming services and studying the lyrics of songs in an attempt to understand consumer behaviour. He said it was “devilishly difficult” to work out how people felt and that traditional methods of market research tended to produce biased results.

In a speech about the opportunities created by big data, published yesterday, he said Spotify data was already being used.

“Intriguingly, the resulting index of sentiment does at least as well in tracking consumer spending as the Michigan survey of consumer confidence,” he said, referring to a highly regarded monthly survey undertaken in the US. “And why stop at music? People’s tastes in books, TV and radio may also offer a window on their soul.”

Mr Haldane noted that while not all attempts to harness online searches had proved successful, multiplayer online games with “primitive” economies such as World of Warcraft were being studied by economists to assess how individuals would respond to monetary and regulatory policy changes.