About the Company
The client is a streaming platform for DJ mixes, radio shows, and podcasts. As part of its reporting to rights holders, the company runs a quarterly manual study on random 30-second audio samples from uploads to determine which record labels and major label groups own the music being streamed. The work directly supports statistically accurate label-usage reporting, making this a research-driven role with clear downstream impact.
About the Role
This role is a fit for someone who enjoys careful research, pattern-matching, and making sound judgments from imperfect information. Analysts work through batches of audio samples in a web dashboard, identifying tracks, tracing label ownership, and determining whether a release ultimately sits under a major label group such as Universal, Sony, Warner, Merlin, The Orchard, or Believe/TuneCore. The work rewards accuracy, source discipline, and strong written reasoning: every submission must include notes and citations showing exactly how the conclusion was reached. If you’re comfortable working independently and know when to leave a sample unresolved rather than guess, this role offers clear expectations and measurable quality standards.
What you will do
Analysts work through a queue of samples in a web dashboard, one at a time. Each sample involves three steps: 1. Identify the artist and track title. Listen to the full 30-second clip and identify the track playing for the majority of it. Tools: Shazam (Chrome extension), plus the Gracenote audio fingerprint and the Juno / user tracklists shown alongside each sample. Cross-check the match on Spotify or Apple Music. 2. Identify the owner / licensor. Find the record label or distributor the music flows through — usually from Spotify credits or the Apple Music album page, then Discogs, Wikipedia or Beatport. 3. Identify the major label group. Research whether that label sits under Universal, Sony, Warner, Merlin, The Orchard or Believe/TuneCore. This is the judgement-heavy part: sub-label, distribution and acquisition histories all matter, and an apparently independent label is often a division of a major. Each sample is submitted with artist, title, label, a result category (including ‘talk / no music’ and ‘cannot identify’ outcomes) and notes citing every source used. Source citation is mandatory — it is how we audit the work.
Requirements
- Strong written English and confident, self-directed desk research — tracing a label to its parent company is most of the skill.
- Comfortable working independently through a web dashboard with minimal supervision.
- Broad music familiarity (electronic, house, disco, hip-hop, world) is helpful but not essential.
- Needs Chrome, Shazam, and ideally a Spotify and/or Apple Music account.
- Unresolved samples are recorded as such rather than guessed — a wrong label is worse than a blank one.
Ways of working
- Work is assigned in batches through our dashboard; each analyst needs an account that we enable.
- Analysts must not review or duplicate each other’s results; they may share label research sources.
- Training is a written instruction document (v.22, fully illustrated) plus a walkthrough with the team.
- Studies run quarterly; batch volumes vary by quarter and are confirmed ahead of each study.
- We review each analyst on two measures: samples completed per hour, and the accuracy of those results against our own checks.