The last successful held-back single was in April 2016 (Sigala - Give Me Your Love) and I was wondering if this will ever happen again. I personally think it's a good idea to bring it back as it would allow songs to gain momentum on Spotify then release it on iTunes to maximise sales on what would normally be 'first week sales'.

 

Do you think we will ever see the return of having to pre-order singles and would you like it to? Discuss :D

Edited February 13, 20178 yr by cqmerqn

I personally wouldn't like to see this return as it would bring back "false" Chart runs where the most popular song of the week isn't at #1 in the Chart because another has concentrated all its sales into one week.

 

Plus they would drop like a stone in the current era, just like that Sigala song you mentioned (and Say You Do :()

Yeah. I think it will happen, but not in the conventional sense.

 

I mean, we're already at the point where you can pre-order a stream and pre-order a song, so logically I'd expect that soon a feature will be implimented into ALL streaming and downloading sites where songs get put on the site weeks BEFORE public release, and you can pre-order them to have them at the top of your music on release day. I can envisage playlists on Spotify that have future releases on, where users can pre-order the streams of them.

Well it's just a bit sad looking back at the 2000s and early 2010s chart archives (not including 2008) and seeing how fast they were compared with today's. While the chart runs were not natural, the held back entries charting high and going relatively quickly in most cases, unless it was a huge hit definitely made the chart fresh.

 

There will continue to be held back ones for dance songs where permission has to be got before release (99 Souls, Just Us etc.)

 

Held back could theoretically still happen if the radio stations play the tracks a few weeks before they are on spotify. This must happen in some countries as a lot of leaked previews have a radio presenter talking over part of it, like the Galantis - Rich Boy one online at the moment. Unless they only played the preview on that radio station :unsure:

Edited February 13, 20178 yr by The Wise Sultan

Yeah Snake makes a good point! Technically the last held back hit was You Want Me by Tom Zanetti.

Yeah Snake makes a good point! Technically the last held back hit was You Want Me by Tom Zanetti.

 

Why, was that played on radio prior to being on spotify?

Edited February 13, 20178 yr by The Wise Sultan

Yeah Snake makes a good point! Technically the last held back hit was You Want Me by Tom Zanetti.

True, but I meant songs that were being played on radio before release.

It would be a terrible idea to bring back held-back releases. Streaming basically screws up any chances of a high debut for most anyway and I'd much rather be able to buy a song instantly and see it climb the charts than have to wait ages for no real reason.

 

Honestly the slowness of the chart right now is more down to streaming than OA/OS. The sales chart remains fast-paced!

Exactly Joseph - most songs hang around for ages because of radio playing old songs constantly to keep high listenership and streaming sites keeping old songs on their hot hits lists!

You would think hit stations not refreshing their playlists often would cause them to have less listeners than more as people got sick of the songs.

 

Plenty of times when I was younger and didn't even pay much attention to the radio I still wanted to turn it off after hearing 'You're Beautiful' by James Blunt once again, such was it being overplayed. Some songs on certain stations must be even more overplayed now though than 'You're Beautiful' ever was.

I can't quite believe anyone genuinely misses held-back releases :P By the time a song hit the charts most people were already sick of it - I remember Justin Timberlake's 'Rock Your Body' being played and promoted for ages before it eventually charted.

The simple answer is no.

 

But I think 'pre-saving' is soon going to become a big thing, so artists will start hyping their new single a week or so in advance before release and tell their fans to pre-save it to their playlist in order to secure a high Spotify chart debut. Spotify itself could well have and promote a whole playlist full of forthcoming singles to pre-save, as well as a page of forthcoming albums to pre-save.

 

All these releases will still be OA/OS, and most of them won't peak in their first week, but we may potentially see more songs entering high as there'll be more awareness of them in week one.

Streaming wouldn't let that happen.

Why, was that played on radio prior to being on spotify?

Not really but it had been around for about 2/3 years before its iTunes/Spotify release.

'You Want Me' still counts as an OA/OS release though, as radio weren't playing it until a few weeks after it had been released.

 

Aside - Offaiah 'Trouble' also got a bit of radio airplay before its release on Dance Anthems and the nighttime shows, but wasn't held back in the traditional sense as it was only sent to daytime radio a few weeks into its chart run.

Wasn't there a single recently where you had the option to pre-add it to your Spotify playlist? I'm tempted to say the Alesso one. It's starting.

I really hope it doesn't come back again I mean the charts are slow but its down to streaming, however it is a more reflective tool of what songs are actually popular.

 

Held back was fine during the 90s because most/all single releases were eventually dealt with that way but when downloads came along and being able to cherry pick a song off an album as soon as the next single was announced it removed that element and gave held back releases an unfair advantage.

 

I'm hoping streaming may kill that horrible element to the charts off as i really don't see (how they can/the point of) holding back streaming a single, plus i don't want to see another 2014 or 2000 again when nothing managed more than 7 days at no1. The biggest irony of held back releases is the record labels are the first to moan about illegal downloading and loosing sales but by making people wait 2 months to download a song whilst its being played on the radio they cant be surprised people go elsewhere.

AGREED^^

Held back singles need to come back in my opinion as the Official chart is a mess right now. We used to have big chart battles to look forward to when singles were regularly held back and there was a lot more movement and just a bigger buzz in general. The sales for the #1's were huge most of the time as well and you didn't need to add imaginary "streaming sales" to inflate the sales figures a few years ago.

 

 

I've been looking at Box Office movie charts recently on this website: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekly/

 

 

And as a comparison you can see how lively the Box Office charts have been for decades with big name films going toe-to-toe with one another on a weekly basis. None of those films were released as soon as the production ended, they had months or even years of hype and build up before being released and it shows by how popular they were and how popular the movie industry as a whole is.

 

 

 

Held back singles need to come back in my opinion as the Official chart is a mess right now. We used to have big chart battles to look forward to when singles were regularly held back and there was a lot more movement and just a bigger buzz in general. The sales for the #1's were huge most of the time as well and you didn't need to add imaginary "streaming sales" to inflate the sales figures a few years ago.

I've been looking at Box Office movie charts recently on this website: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekly/

And as a comparison you can see how lively the Box Office charts have been for decades with big name films going toe-to-toe with one another on a weekly basis. None of those films were released as soon as the production ended, they had months or even years of hype and build up before being released and it shows by how popular they were and how popular the movie industry as a whole is.

 

So you'd rather wait 2 months to buy a song just for a more interesting chart? Honestly I prefer how things are now in that sense. The charts are less interesting now but they represent what people are listening to more than ever, and I personally prefer being able to buy songs the minute they're released. The huge sales for #1s were inflated from holding a song back for so long - streaming sales are actually a way better indicator even if the majority of us don't seem to like the effect they have on the chart (myself included most of the time). Not that streaming is particularly relevant to this topic but it's the key reason for the slow chart as opposed to OA/OS anyway.