So as some of you may have seen on the ol’ reliable BBC website, the third headline (that’s pretty high up, eh? for our little business..) is that our beloved music charts will now be able to encorporate streamed songs through services such as Spotify, We7, Nokia etc.
What great news! But why just those sites? Why now? And how is it possible to control all of these facets and potentially create leverage in the sinking ship world of the recording industry? Questions a-plenty…Well, to start off, the stream counts will attribute to only a small percentage of the overall chart accumultors so as to make sure that any purchase of the music is worth more than the sum of its streamed alternative. A valid call for the recording industry and if they had backed down on that then it’s an obvious shot in their own proverbial foot.
Potentially, though, the chart world may be getting ahead of the game with proposed subscription services for the likes of Spotify, who now intend to stream ‘CD quality music’ for a fee, as well as offer an ad-free service with that fee. This fee based subscription could cover any issues with PRS/Publishers/Royalties etc. and could really harness a level of control in terms of the internet and streaming. It’s also applied to the forthcoming Digital TV Music services to be offered by Sky and Virgin Media as well as Nokia and others. With this in mind, hopefully major labels and others would be able to alleviate any alternative policing of ISP’s and fines for downloaders.
This also ties in with the recent news of the chart upheaval of its 30 year lock down on the independent sector in relation to chart placement. There will now be a seperate chart for those companies that are not involved with major labels, meaning that labels that are 50 or more percent owned by an independent company (ie NOT the four majors) will be eligible for these ‘Official Independent Charts’. With these new chart available to bands, there will be new competition amongst the independent labels who cannot compete with the power of the majors. The charts, with the aforementioned new addition techniques, will only help to aid the bands and their independent processes.
Let’s not devalue, however, how all of this chart business furthers the idea of the post-download music world thriving and being able to combine with traditional elements of the current industry without hindering it’s all important income. It is nice for those of us involved of course as it goes to show how traditional elements of the industry can be altered; bending the rules and not breaking them. Illegal downloading will still exist but, as some recent studies have shown, these downloads have actually benefitted material sales of the music downloaded. Those who have downloaded from torrents, file sharing sites (see The Pirate Bay – you won’t be able to much longer!) still tend to buy the album as proof of their dedication to the album and artist. That is in no way meant to condone illegal downloads, but it merely shows how the butting head worlds of major label greed and public lust for accessibility may be able to find some bridge to peace.
But how will the artists react knowing that these accumulative figures have to be manipulated in such a way that their part in the process of their own music is, still, relatively diminished? Even the idea of streams being involved in the chart doesn’t help ‘up and coming’ bands as the avenues of their music entering the charts are made so complicated anyway. Not to say that it can’t be done, but it does leave the recording industry exclusively bracketed in regard to the charts. A band can still make it in the charts through their own avenues now without a label needing to back them, especially in the digital world where distribution is that much simpler.
Maybe the ‘Radiohead effect’ will truely kick in (that being the pay what you want self release route), maybe the charts may eventually become redundant despite enveloping this new forward thinking…still with the rhetorical questioning? Maybe that’s the way charts are going to be for a long time to come…
