Variety Control/MusicVUE
Music library testing with the industry's most advanced tools
You have a programming vision.
Don’t let a music test with only mean scores send you off course. Variety Control is the fit and positioning tool that will double the value of your AMT!
Download a demo of Variety Control/MusicVUE and see for yourself!
Note: the demo package is about 3 megs. Save to disk, then double-click on the icon to install. Note: It is, I must confess, an older version. Our software has had three revisions since the version described and the demo (both of which are versions 5.1). I apologize, and we are working to put together information for the Web site that will feature the latest capabilities or our AMT analysis software.
The "At Cost" Music Test Makes Music Library Testing Affordable
How can your music testing be more affordable?
The answer: the Steve Casey-designed "At Cost" Music Test
Variety Control Faq
Why do I need Variety Control?
To double the value of your music test. Variety Control is acknowledged industry-wide as the most advanced music research analysis tool. You have a vision and positioning goals for your station. With Variety Control, your music test can finally be a powerful and strategic positioning weapon.
What is Variety Control?
Variety Control is the proven method to compare every song against a music position that you define, all based on your listeners’ own opinions.
Most research companies provide you with mean score results. This is not enough! You’ve spent all your money only to get the average opinion of everyone in the room. You need positioning analysis. Without it, you’ll keep fighting the test results as you see songs that test well but have bad fit.
How does Variety Control work?
If people’s opinions about music were totally random there would be no point to Variety Control. But we know opinions are not random. That’s why formats work. And even within formats there are patterns. We can exploit the patterns to help balance our programming. Variety Control reveals the degree to which the songs are liked by the same people. Every song is related to every other song in terms of how different they are. We call this Added Variety.
Can you explain the term ‘Added Variety’?
Think of it as how interchangeable two songs are. More Added Variety means they are less interchangeable.
If every person who liked Song A also liked Song B and every person who disliked Song A disliked Song B and every person for whom Song A was a favorite also considered Song B to be a favorite, then the difference or Added Variety would be 0%. The reason we use the term Added Variety is to emphasize that if you play Song A followed by Song B you have added X% of the variety possible. In the above example, you’ve added 0%, or no Added Variety.
You’re probably not used to thinking about exactly how much variety you add to the station as you move from song to song since, without Variety Control, it’s not possible to measure it and control it. But whether measured and controlled or not, the station’s appeal is always changing. Variety Control makes it possible to know how much it has shifted and to control the shift.
How much does Variety Control cost?
MusicVUE and Variety Control come as a package, and now include our latest tools: Pure Core format fan analysis and full music landscape definition. The price is very affordable, particularly for the absolute best music research project. Multiple test discounts are available. Variety Control can work with the data gathered by any radio research organization. Also included is expert hands-on guidance from Steve Casey.
"Steve Casey has been designing great research tools longer than most program directors have been behind the desk. Variety Control is just one example of the fine work available from Steve Casey Research."
- Steve Rivers, VP/Programming, Infinity Broadcasting