Release Activity (New Pro features)
Today we’re introducing the first in a series of new features designed to combine ROSTR’s data with stuff artists are doing in the real world.
This first drop is focused on an obvious area - has an artist released music recently? New data on artist profiles & new filters in Compare are designed to help you quickly get context on if an artist is recently active (or not).
We’re also introducing the concept of “In-cycle” for artists on ROSTR. This is a simple on/off filter allowing you to find artists who are currently in an active cycle. Initially, this is pretty rudimental & simply based on if the artist has recently released music. However, over time we’ll add more nuanced inputs, for example, if an artist is releasing music in the near future, if they’re on tour/playing festivals + other inputs.
We’re excited about this feature because we HOPE it plays into a goal we’re trying to achieve with ROSTR. How do we make it easier for you to quickly find what you need? With these new filters, it’s super simple for our Pro members to say, for example, “I’m looking for a female, solo, Pop artist, who’s signed to an indie label who recently released an album”.
Read on below for more info & as always please send us feedback on if this is useful / how it could be more useful.
🐞As always, with new features, this comes with a bug warning. If something behaves weirdly, just let us know.
Recent Releases
From today, you’ll start to see “Recent Releases” at the top of artist profiles. This section is designed to give you at-a-glance info on when that artist last released a single or album.
Click on titles or artwork to open the item on Spotify (in-page playback coming soon).
(This feature is available to both Free & Pro users).
In-Cycle/Off-Cycle
A new super-simple filter in Compare that allows you to filter artists based on if they’ve recently released music (any single or album released on Spotify in the last 120 days).
Future features will introduce greater nuance to ROSTR’s concept of in/off cycle, including if an artist is touring, playing festivals OR gearing up for a release.
⚠️ Thanks to label re-issue strategies you’ll likely see some WTFs (What the F**k’s?!) here. While we wish David Bowie was releasing new music, it’s probably just another re-release. We’ll work to refine this over time.
Recency Sliders
If you want to get more granular, or look further out than 120 days, use the sliders to filter artists by how recently they released an album or single.
The siders range from “Within | 7 days” to “Within | Lifetime” so you have the flexibility to find artists that, for example, released an album in the last year or in the last week.
Combine & Compare
We’re excited about how these new filters play with all the other filters.
Filter for artists represented by a particular company, in a specific genre & a specific artist type & then toggle whether they’re in or off-cycle to find artists that are active (or not).
Give it a try in Compare now.
Coming soon
Next up we’re working on bringing artist-audience demographics into ROSTR. Soon we’ll be dropping gender/age/location breakdowns into both artist profiles & as filters in Compare.
We’re also working on enhanced contact details, giving you more than just an email address.
Finally, we’re working on some prototypes around how to show you, & let you filter, by artists who have announced releases in the future.
