The Orchard enhances social features on its mobile app

The Sony Music-owned company says the additional features will let artists and their teams strategically release new music based on an artist's social landscape. The app is now downloadable on both iOS and Android.

Originally launched in December last year, the service allowed labels distributed by The Orchard to follow the trajectory of each release, see when a track is added to a new playlist, get info about the performance of a release and pinpoint markets with key fan demographics.

With the new enhancements, the app now gives users a full, comprehensive view of their social engagement footprint and market visibility compared to others.

Artists can also use the platform to control, discover and message directly through social platforms to find and engage with their fans as well as pinpoint them by locations.

The app monitors fans' top interactions in algorithmic order through social posts, hashtags, follower count and geography.

OrchardGo also actively monitors and alerts its users to view social media trends indicating when and why artists are trending, providing artists opportunities to engage with fans in real time.

"The Orchard is always working to empower the creative community by providing the best products and services in the market," The Orchard chief technology officer Jacob Fowler said. "The latest OrchardGo features shift from the apps in the marketplace that are focused on sales metrics and playlisting to instead allow artists to find and directly engage with their fans. These features enable artists and their teams to develop more intricate promotional strategies for releases, making the possibility of reaching new audiences endless."

The Orchard says the app will enable teams to make informed decisions and strategies, which will make it easier to plan releases and marketing campaigns.

The company joins a number of other platforms that have launched music-centred activity apps that provide data to artists.

According to a recent blog by media insights and analysis firm MIDiA Research, social music apps could become one of the next growth drivers in the music industry.