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Overview

Engagement metrics provide deep insights into how listeners interact with your tracks. Unlike play counts (which just tell you how many plays), engagement metrics tell you how listeners engage—how long they listen, whether they complete your track, and where they drop off.
Availability: Engagement metrics are only available on individual track insights (/backstage/tracks/{id}/insights). They require per-play analysis and are not aggregated at the album or artist level.

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Why Engagement Matters

Metric TypeWhat It Tells You
Play CountHow many times your track was started
EngagementHow listeners actually experience your track
High play counts with low engagement could indicate:
  • Misleading titles or covers (people click but don’t stay)
  • Weak intros that don’t hook listeners
  • Structural issues in the track
High engagement means listeners find your content valuable and are more likely to:
  • Return for future releases
  • Share your music
  • Purchase or license your tracks

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Engagement Overview

The Engagement Overview section appears at the top of track insights.

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The Four Key Metrics

Icon: Clock (blue)What it measures: The average time listeners spend on your track.How to read it:
  • Compare to your track length (shown in the badge)
  • If it’s low relative to track length, listeners are leaving early
  • Example: “0:49” out of “3:06” means listeners hear only 26% on average
Progress bar: Shows duration as % of track length

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Quality Badge

The header displays an overall engagement rating that summarizes your track’s performance:

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Badge Levels

BadgeColorCriteria
High EngagementGreen≥80% completion AND ≥80% of track listened
Good EngagementBlue≥60% completion AND ≥60% of track listened
Moderate EngagementYellow≥40% completion OR ≥40% of track listened
Low EngagementRedBelow 40% on both metrics
The badge considers both completion rate AND average listen duration relative to track length. A 3-minute track with 1:30 average listen time and 50% completion shows “Moderate Engagement.”

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Retention Levels

The Avg Completion Rate card shows a retention level badge:
LevelCompletion RateBadge ColorWhat It Means
Excellent≥80%GreenListeners love your track
Good60-79%BlueStrong engagement
Fair40-59%YellowRoom for improvement
Poor< 40%RedNeeds attention
This provides a quick assessment without needing to analyze percentages.

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Listen Duration Chart

An interactive bar chart showing how long listeners engage with your track over time.

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Chart Elements

ElementDescription
HeaderClock icon, trend badge, average duration
BarsEach bar = average listen duration for that day
Bar HeightTaller bars = longer average listen time
Bar ColorsColor-coded by completion rate
FooterTrack length, best day, avg completion, total plays

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Bar Colors (Completion Rate)

ColorCompletion RateMeaning
Green≥70%Excellent — listeners hear most of the track
Amber/Yellow40-70%Good — engaged but drop off before end
Red< 40%Needs attention — listeners skip early

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Trend Calculation

The trend percentage indicates whether engagement is improving:
  1. Your selected date range is split in half
  2. Average listen duration from the first half vs second half
  3. The percentage change is shown as the trend
BadgeExampleMeaning
Green (+15%)+15%Engagement improved recently
Red (-25%)-25%Engagement declined recently
Orange (0%)0%Stable — no significant change
A negative trend doesn’t necessarily mean your track is bad. It could indicate a shift in audience (e.g., new listeners discovering via short-form content).

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Interactive Tooltips

Desktop: Hover over any bar to see:
  • Average Duration (e.g., “1:23”)
  • Completion Rate (e.g., “65%”)
  • Play Count (e.g., “12 plays”)
  • Date
Mobile: Tap any bar to show tooltip. Tap again or outside to dismiss.

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Completion Breakdown Chart

A grid showing how much of your track listeners complete, broken into five categories.

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Categories

CategoryIconRangeWeightDescription
Completed✓ (green)>80%100 ptsHeard almost all
Mostly◉ (blue)60-80%70 ptsStrong engagement
Half○ (amber)40-60%50 ptsAbout half
Partial⊘ (orange)20-40%30 ptsLost interest
Skipped⏩ (red)< 20%10 ptsSkipped early

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Quality Score Formula

The Quality Score is a weighted average (0-100) summarizing retention: 
Quality Score = (Completed×100 + Mostly×70 + Half×50 + Partial×30 + Skipped×10) / Total Plays
Example calculation: 20 plays: 10 completed, 5 mostly, 3 half, 1 partial, 1 skipped 
Score = (10×100 + 5×70 + 3×50 + 1×30 + 1×10) / 20
      = (1000 + 350 + 150 + 30 + 10) / 20
      = 1540 / 20
      = 77 (Good)

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Quality Score Ratings

ScoreRatingMeaning
80-100ExcellentListeners love your track
60-79GoodSolid with room to improve
40-59FairMany listeners drop off
20-39Needs WorkMost leave early
0-19PoorAlmost everyone skips

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Insight Messages

The footer displays context-aware insights based on your data:
InsightConditionMessage
Excellent>60% completed”Excellent engagement! Keep doing what works.”
Many skip early>40% skipped”Many listeners skip early. Consider a more engaging intro.”
Drop off lateMore mostly/half than completed”Listeners engage but drop off. Strengthen your outro.”
Mixed ratesNo clear pattern”Mixed completion rates. Analyze drop-off points.”

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Interpreting Engagement Data

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Common Patterns

PatternLikely CauseAction
High skipsWeak introStrengthen first 15-30 seconds
Drops at 50%Energy dip in middleReview track structure
Drops near endWeak outroAdd stronger closing
Consistently highGreat contentKeep your current approach
Declining trendAudience fatigueConsider new releases

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What Affects Engagement

FactorImpact
Track introFirst 15-30 seconds are critical
Energy flowConsistent engagement keeps listeners
Track lengthLonger tracks face more drop-off
Genre expectationsMatch what listeners expect
Audio qualityPoor quality drives listeners away

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Tips for Improving Engagement

1

Hook them early

Start with your strongest element. Don’t save the best for later—many won’t hear it.
2

Maintain energy

Avoid long quiet sections or energy dips that give listeners an exit point.
3

Optimize length

Match your track length to genre expectations. Shorter is often better for engagement.
4

Strong outro

Give listeners a reason to finish. A weak ending leads to early exits.
5

A/B test intros

If engagement is low, try releasing alternate versions with different intros.

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Data Availability

Engagement tracking is being rolled out progressively. Tracks with plays before the feature launch may show “Engagement tracking coming soon” with a note about the pre-tracking play count.

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Next Steps

Track Insights

View full track analytics.

Charts Reference

Visual guide to all chart types.

Metric Definitions

All metric definitions.

Backstage Overview

Return to insights overview.