"A useful read for professionals at any level in the music industry. Each chapter deals with statistics and data in an accessible way without weakening their rigorous critiques of music industry practices. It would be an illuminating read for all artists and music industry professionals."

Music Reference Services Quarterly

In a world increasingly reflected and cognized through numerical computation, this well curated collection proves a useful reference resource. Expansive, detailed, and well-researched, Music by Numbers is a commendable contribution to the understanding of our digital age.

Chris Woods, Popular Music

In fourteen distinct and loosely connected chapters the contributors variously analyze, dispute, or contribute statistics on the music industries. As Osborne notes in his excellent introduction, the book was Laing’s idea; however, it is largely due to Osborne that this volume saw the light of day, as Laing sadly passed away in January 2019. Osborne was thus forced to contribute more than he had initially planned and wrote all three chapters for Part I on the music industries’ “winners and losers.” These are some of the most interesting chapters of the book. They range in topic from how the United Kingdom singles chart has historically both reflected and driven musical popularity, to the peculiar celebration of sales figures by rewarding gold or platinum status, to the disputable but highly influential rhetoric of the “one-inten” success ratio that is still frequently heard today. Music By Numbers provides popular music scholars with an important and useful foundation for the continued investigation of “the use and abuse” of numbers in the music industries. It is also a fine tribute to the late Dave Laing.
 

Robert Prey, Journal of Popular Music Studies

Music By Numbers provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of the use and abuse of data and statistics in the music industries. It employs a critical stance and unpacks the various ways in which numbers are instrumental to industry goals and details various strategies employed to manipulate them accordingly. [...] This book undoubtedly provides useful guidelines for future research on statistics, data and metrics in the music business.
 

Erik Hitters, International Journal of Music Business Research