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This is the introduction to the collection Music by Numbers, edited by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing. It outlines the use of music statistics in the music industries, details the chapter contributions and provides a tribute to the work of Dave Laing, who died during the editing process for this collection.

No abstract available.

This chapter explores claims that the live music industry generates more revenue than the recorded music industry in the UK. To do so, it takes a close look at statistics compiled by PRS for Music and UK Music, addressing four questions: (1) What is the purpose of their statistics reports? (2) What do they include in their totals for ‘recording’ and ‘live’? (3) How is the statistical information categorized? (4) Are performers able to assess their share of the money?

This chapter provides a history of the statistical compilation of the UK singles chart, detailing who is responsible for compiling the singles chart, the breadth of the survey, the representation of the results, the frequency of the chart, and how a ‘single’ is defined.

This chapter looks at sales awards in the music industries. It addresses some of the standards and variables relating gold discs, silver discs, platinum discs and diamond discs. It looks at the history of these trophies and examines the rules by which they can be acquired. It looks at the record company accounting that the sales awards tend to obscure. It addresses the continuing use of these awards in the digital age. It looks at the musical culture that they endorse, examining their impact upon artistic creation and audience reception.

This chapter explores the recording industries statistic that only one in ten of its projects will succeed. It begins by outlining the origins of the one-in-ten statistic, before tracing its prevalence within the recording industry and its analyses within academia. It next examines the uses of the ratio when coupled with the employment of ‘new’ music. Finally, this chapter looks at the promotional literature of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which is deploying these tropes to defend the purpose of record companies in the digital age.

The chapter takes its inspiration and starting point from Simon Frith's writings about song lyrics. Extending Frith's focus on lyrics as performance, it argues that lyrics can be approached independently from their performed context (without being treated naively as poetry). It also argues that the practices of songwriters, briefly discussed, should be more central to popular music research and study.