I was just thinking what's the difference between Australia where songs are released on air-on sale,in Australia it not like the US where airplay/streaming is counted..in Australia its just sales..why doesn't it work in the UK..is the UK the only country where there is held back releases..in Ireland the only held back releases are from UK artists,but even now Rita Ora and ed sheer an got released a few weeks ago.

I've always wondered this & never found a concrete answer. The most logical obseravtion I can make is that artists make their tracks available in "lower risk" markets such as Oz or NZ to test the waters & get a good sample of whether it will be successful before releasing to the more make-or-break UK market. If the track performs well abroad the likelihood is it'll perform well domestically but if it doesn't it can be cancelled & easily swept under the carpet or forgotten about without most of the target audience noticing.

 

However when songs are held back for months and months on end even after overwhelming success in other countries, that makes zero sense, Animals & Stay The Night being classic examples.

Edited May 20, 201411 yr by Dobbo

It's a relic of the pre-download era when record labels figured out they could easily get UK #1s (well, if the artist was popular obviously) by holding back the release. I'm not sure if this also used to be the case in other countries and they just adapted, but the UK never did as the strategy still works and labels value the high peaks over long term sales. OA/OS failed to take off when it was implemented because A) not everyone implemented it so those that did were suffering from still being held off by held-back releases and B) radio stations did not adapt to the new strategy which resulted in it not working, radio couldn't get used to the fact that OA/OS releases do not instantly do well most of the time and didn't support the songs appropriately leading to a lot of underperformances. As it was still a fledgling strategy labels saw this and decided to quickly drop it again.

 

At least we do still mostly get OA/OS releases from indie/rock acts and some of the major international superstars, although even the former of those is possibly starting to change with the likes of Klaxons and Kasabian holding back their latest comeback singles :(

it's a pet peeve of mine and the joy of watching records climb, get popular and peak at 1 has been destroyed by the British Record Industry in conjuction with the radio industry. It started in the 90's when the charts were very manipulated and held back releases entered high. Then downloads made it a democracy and the public took back ownership of the charts for a few years till the labels fought back and have got us all used to waiting for weeks months or even years for tracks to be made available, just so they can have the kudos of a high chart peak for records that are fanbase only interest.

 

Radio works with them by making records familar ahead of release, they aren't so keen on seeing a record enter at 43 and climb slowly (like say 1republic) and aren't likely to pick up on it all until sales force them to (say, like 1 republic) unless one of the internet buzz lists persuades them to.

 

Everything's about marketing, and the UK music fans are served badly compared to the rest of the world, so my own personal policy is not to buy singles or albums where they are taking the p*ss, frinstance the brilliant new Klingande release which has been out for a year everywhere else, or the new Lana Del ray track - she's on a UK label and we have to wait to access it, having made her an international star, and also having been tricked into buying the first album only to have a load of extra tracks bunged on and released again a year later. Labels need to be made aware that milking every last sale out of an album using this strategy does not create artist loyalty amongst consumers/fans - they just won't buy the next one, they'll wait till the deluxe version is released, let it drop to 3 or 4 pounds and buy it then - long after it has ceased to be chart relevant.

 

So there! :P

As others said, record companies seem to prefer a high peak in the charts over high sales.

 

A few people like The Saturdays, Wiley and Ellie Goulding have even held back post-album singles recently. :drama: I think that's a bit much personally...

 

We still do get quite a lot of on air on sale singles here though.

What a wonderful topic :)

 

You just have to look at the ytd sales and see the biggest selling singles are invariably from artists that release their songs early, post album tracks or somgs that have grown from nothing like John Legend. Obv some held back releases still sell remarkably well eg La La La, Rather Be but this is the exception rather than the rule.

 

As i say if a song is good it will nearly always chart high or be in the chart for a long time (even if it doesnt peak at No1) although there are exceptions like Goo Goo Dolls in its first run but they always come back if the dont.

Is there a reason why pre-orders don't chart in the weekly chart?

Can someone explain this term?

Is there a reason why pre-orders don't chart in the weekly chart?

 

Because they do not count as a sale before they are officially released as you do not have to pay for it before you can download it :)

 

 

As i say if a song is good it will nearly always chart high or be in the chart for a long time (even if it doesnt peak at No1) although there are exceptions like Goo Goo Dolls in its first run but they always come back if the dont.

 

That's entirely subjective though, one could argue loads of "good" songs never get the success they deserve.

Ok change the word 'good' to 'popular' then or whatever word you want to use which stops my point being subjective!

Edited May 20, 201411 yr by steve201

Also I would add that the prestige of having a no 1 single in the UK is still something that is valued in the business in a way that say an Australian no 1 single isn't, therefore to hold back a song and get the highest position possible is a price worth paying. Simultaneously it is also easier to get a no 1 single without the drag of having airplay affecting the position like in many countries.

It's not really the record companies' fault. It's more that the media base their decision on things other than whether they sound good. They were releasing singles straight away and in many cases not making the top 40. Then they couldn't get any support for the record so it was dead in the water. It only works for established acts. Now they're doing pre-orders there's no going back.

It's interesting to see the changes in the charts and how record companies have adapted to downloads and how they get those sales.

 

I remember Jessie J's Price Tag being an OA/OS track and getting to number one but now its all about pre-orders and its pretty much a guarantee that if a big release is held back and accrues 'sales' ahead of the release date than it seems to give that artist a considerable head start for the following week which is good for sales but not so good for the excitement the charts used to have

The main reason why the UK doesn't use OAOS is that because Radio is the main why of getting a record to sell. Despite the diversity in media outlets the main BBC stations are considered by Record Companies to be the breakers of a record. If they were to allow the OAOS to go ahead certain records which NEED airplay would enter only lowly in the chart and climb slowly. However the people with the power to playlist records are always looking for an excuse not to playlist a record. Since most of the records that are good enough to sell will make it to the playlist table a "ready" excuse is not to have an indication that the record is a slow seller!

Since there isn't much TV exposure for records these days (since TOTP and Saturday kids shows on ITV went) airplay is needed. Also YouTube videos help, but too many artists are slow at getting a video up there. So the fall back is Radio.

 

Pre-orders don't really count mostly because on iTunes it isn't so much an order as, more an agreement to send an e-mail to the person when the record is released so they can buy it. Some other sites do however have a different system. For example if you pre-order on Amazon a DVD say, you have to pay for it. If it is reduced in price they refund you the difference, up to the day it's issued.

Many pre-orders on iTunes might not be purchased the week of issue or indeed at all. If the OCC were to count them it would have to "knock" sales off when the record was issued, since the OCC cannot see into the future and determine if a pre-order in week two of say a 4 week pre-order period was purchased in week one of release.

However this hasn't stopped the record companies from abusing the system. And it is being used in the same way as Facebook uses of popular bands use to ensure a big sale on the week of release.

How effective this system is shows in the current run of number one hits on the OCC with lots of new entries at number one lasting one week only. It seems that there is nothing that the OCC can do to stop this hyping.

 

Another chart which is not widely recognised however has taken action to stop this. Since those that compile it don't operate using the time structure that is imposed on the OCC chart. It can work out precisely who purchases the records in week one of release and relate them back to the week of pre-order. Thus allowing the pre-orders to chart and therefore reducing their sales in week one of release.

So far this has stopped several records going to the top, most recently Calvin Harris and Summer. Simply because the pre-orders give about a 30 to 40% weight to most of the current number ones on the OCC chart.

I believe this system will go into decline when the OCC introduce streaming, till then they OCC will continue to have hyped new entry number ones.

Edited May 20, 201411 yr by Graham A

This ^^ is basically exactly right, bring on streaming is what I say!

It's interesting to see the changes in the charts and how record companies have adapted to downloads and how they get those sales.

 

I remember Jessie J's Price Tag being an OA/OS track and getting to number one but now its all about pre-orders and its pretty much a guarantee that if a big release is held back and accrues 'sales' ahead of the release date than it seems to give that artist a considerable head start for the following week which is good for sales but not so good for the excitement the charts used to have

 

It's not always good for sales in fact it most Definately is BAD for sales as it stifiles sales because a lot of people will go to buy a song see its not released for 5/6 weeks and say to hell with that and find another way of listening to it!