Official Chart rules change

 

The Official Chart Supervisory Committee has passed a change to the chart rules governing instant grat single sales. Starting from this week, providing preagreed criteria are met, instant grat sales will be allowed to contribute to the Official Singles Chart, combined with the a la carte sales of the same single. In the past, only the a la carte sales were allowed to count.

 

The rule change means that songs sold as album pre-order incentives on the likes of iTunes - as seen last month with David Bowie track Where Are We Now? - will now be counted towards the Official Singles Chart. The change was passed unanimously by the CSC committee which comprises retailers and labels and brings the UK’s Official Singles Chart in line with charts in most markets across the rest of the world.

 

The rule comes into effect in Week 7, 2013 (w/c February 10) and will be reviewed periodically to assess its impact.

 

from Music Week print edition 15/02/13

Official Chart rules change

 

The Official Chart Supervisory Committee has passed a change to the chart rules governing instant grat single sales. Starting from this week, providing preagreed criteria are met, instant grat sales will be allowed to contribute to the Official Singles Chart, combined with the a la carte sales of the same single. In the past, only the a la carte sales were allowed to count.

 

The rule change means that songs sold as album pre-order incentives on the likes of iTunes - as seen last month with David Bowie track Where Are We Now? - will now be counted towards the Official Singles Chart. The change was passed unanimously by the CSC committee which comprises retailers and labels and brings the UK’s Official Singles Chart in line with charts in most markets across the rest of the world.

 

The rule comes into effect in Week 7, 2013 (w/c February 10) and will be reviewed periodically to assess its impact.

 

from Music Week print edition 15/02/13

 

A necessary change.

Does that mean that when the album is actually bought the sales from the pre-sale will be subtracted from total single sales?

I was worried that they were including streaming to the chart! :drama:

I thought they had it spot on beforehand, only letting the individual track downloads into the chart and excluding the ones given as a freeby from pre-ordering the album. Oh well.

Does that mean that when the album is actually bought the sales from the pre-sale will be subtracted from total single sales?

I've read that they do this in the US but I've not heard of it happening anywhere else. I'd imagine the pre-order sales will still be included in total sales even when the album is released. It does mean that there is an element of double counting though, the pre-sales counting towards the singles chart then when the album is released the track is counted as being part of the album.

oh dear, begging the question when is a sale not a sale? the playing field got a little less even today.

By "songs sold as album pre-order incentives", do they mean all pre-album singles or just the leading one?

 

I'm not liking the idea of pre-sales counting towards to the chart. A pre-order can be canceled any time which means no actual sales were made.

Does that mean that when the album is actually bought the sales from the pre-sale will be subtracted from total single sales?

 

That could lead to a situation where the single has negative sales one week then bounces back into the chart.

Can't imagine they'd do that.

I think they should change their awards system. It's crazy reading music week seeing that according to MW no singles have gone silver, gold or platinum. To the naked eye singles are not selling, but they are! just award singles.

Record companies ask for the awards to be given then the OCC can add them to the chart!

Record companies ask for the awards to be given then the OCC can add them to the chart!

Yeah, it's not Music Week's problem. The only fault I see with certifications is with the BPI who frequently miss adding certifications to their archive, despite Music Week claiming a songs has been given a certification.

I thought they had it spot on beforehand, only letting the individual track downloads into the chart and excluding the ones given as a freeby from pre-ordering the album. Oh well.

Absolutely. When this rule comes into effect, any pre-order single will chart on not only people who actually want the song but also how many want the album. If Adele or a similarly massive album seller makes their lead single an "instant grat" they're going to have a huge advantage over regular singles. Perhaps this rule change will lead so this sort of release becoming much more common.

I didn't say it was MW fault, I was just saying the system is a mess and they need to sort it out. MW could actually just put the icons on songs that they know have sold over 200,000k + copies.

This rule is confusing me! :wacko: Why can't things be simple?!

I'm confused by this as well.

 

It probably won't be that big a deal overall, but one day there's bound to be a song which gets to #1 because of album pre-orders (if I'm understanding this correctly), and then people will probably complain and they'll have to change the rule again.

 

Although they are right in the sense that most other countries in the world seem to do it this way.

I think they Are doing this in order to increase digital album sales and now most record labels will start using this way to promote their artists new albums....

Edited February 14, 201312 yr by Big Mistake

I'm confused by this as well.

 

It probably won't be that big a deal overall, but one day there's bound to be a song which gets to #1 because of album pre-orders (if I'm understanding this correctly), and then people will probably complain and they'll have to change the rule again.

 

Although they are right in the sense that most other countries in the world seem to do it this way.

 

 

haha and itll be no1 without people actually been able to listen to the song yet!!

That could lead to a situation where the single has negative sales one week then bounces back into the chart.

Can't imagine they'd do that.

 

They need to do something though - otherwise pre-ordering the album effectively counts as one album and one single towards the charts when in truth only the album has been bought.

I'm a little bit confused but does this mean freebies and demos are allowed to chart as well