And another thing sending a petition to OCC is not going to work, Music labels will need to club together to resolve it. I wouldn't be surprised other Music labels will be banging on OCC front doors pretty soon.

Yeah this won't happen again lmao - the OCC won't stand for it.

Edited March 7, 20179 yr by mdh

The difference is that people can choose to skip songs on Spotify playlists, and they choose which playlists they listen to. You don't choose what you hear on radio at all, you'd get songs being unfairly boosted in the charts simply because radio are playing them. The US charts are even more stagnant than ours thanks in part to airplay, so I'd be strongly against including it in the UK chart.

 

Your point is not valid, people can skip a song on a playlist just like they can swap to an other radio when there's one song on they don't like. That's what I do when I listen to the radio and that's what most people I know do. Put it the way you want, there is not difference between people playing big Spotify playlists and people listening to big radios : people use them the exact same way.

To be honest, only intentional plays (when people click on a song) and individual playlists (those people make up for themselves) should count towards the charts, but I don't think that rule could ever happen.

Your point is not valid, people can skip a song on a playlist just like they can swap to an other radio when there's one song on they don't like. That's what I do when I listen to the radio and that's what most people I know do. Put it the way you want, there is not difference between people playing big Spotify playlists and people listening to big radios : people use them the exact same way.

To be honest, only intentional plays (when people click on a song) and individual playlists (those people make up for themselves) should count towards the charts, but I don't think that rule could ever happen.

But swapping the radio station doesn't stop the station from playing it and it therefore counting?

Your point is not valid, people can skip a song on a playlist just like they can swap to an other radio when there's one song on they don't like. That's what I do when I listen to the radio and that's what most people I know do. Put it the way you want, there is not difference between people playing big Spotify playlists and people listening to big radios : people use them the exact same way.

To be honest, only intentional plays (when people click on a song) and individual playlists (those people make up for themselves) should count towards the charts, but I don't think that rule could ever happen.

 

Sure you can swap to another radio station but you're still not deciding what song you listen to - if you skip a song, you'll go and find a different one you actually want to hear. It's not the same as radio plays at all, where the playlist teams decide what's played and that's easily manipulated. Whether people use them the same way or not, they're still very different things, and people have way more control over what they stream than what they hear on the radio.

 

(edit: and what Pete said, that's a very good point)

Your point is not valid, people can skip a song on a playlist just like they can swap to an other radio when there's one song on they don't like. That's what I do when I listen to the radio and that's what most people I know do. Put it the way you want, there is not difference between people playing big Spotify playlists and people listening to big radios : people use them the exact same way.

To be honest, only intentional plays (when people click on a song) and individual playlists (those people make up for themselves) should count towards the charts, but I don't think that rule could ever happen.

For chart purposes your point is not valid to be honest.

If you skip a song on Spotify within 30 seconds the track's stream won't count but if you just switch to another radio stations the song will count because it will still being played til the end (if airplay would count), no matter if you listening to or not, and that was the original point I think :)

Oh god whatever, I give up. Spotify playlists will take control of the charts in no time and you will still find it ok.

Oh god whatever, I give up. Spotify playlists will take control of the charts in no time and you will still find it ok.

That's not what anyone is saying :P there's definitely a sense of passiveness in listening to a Spotify playlist but ultimately, that is what people are choosing to listen to. They can skip a song if they dislike it and it won't affect the chart if so, which makes it totally different to radio airplay. Unfortunately there's no real solution to this other than "take away playlists" which would probably be more damaging than anything as many songs do still gain exposure via playlists like Hot Hits UK.

That's not what anyone is saying :P there's definitely a sense of passiveness in listening to a Spotify playlist but ultimately, that is what people are choosing to listen to. They can skip a song if they dislike it and it won't affect the chart if so, which makes it totally different to radio airplay. Unfortunately there's no real solution to this other than "take away playlists" which would probably be more damaging than anything as many songs do still gain exposure via playlists like Hot Hits UK.

Agreed, however much we dislike the fact playlists control what we listen to, without them songs would spend years in the chart with no new discoveries.

Oh god whatever, I give up. Spotify playlists will take control of the charts in no time and you will still find it ok.

LOL :lol:

 

Cute like a child :) :blush:

 

Of course there are similarities between streaming playlists and radio playlists, the difference though on streaming sites you can control what you want to listen to whilst on radio you cannot, the playlists are given and the stations decide what you can hear. Of course you can choose another radio stations but you are again forced to listen to the song what they choose to play.

And if we are talking about how can the charts be influenced: with streaming you can influence it by choosing songs from the playlists and skip those ones you don't want to hear, whilst radio airplay is given, that means radio stations choose what they want to have on the playlists and they play it whether you want to hear those songs or not and you have no influence on it. That's all I'm saying regardless if I want streaming or radio airplay in the charts or not :)

Outside the complete top 20 dominance of Ed Sheeran he is likely to have other tracks on the chart in the lower regions including Photograph and Thinking Out Loud. I am very impressed with the high sales of both x and + from Ed Sheeran. X will sell close to 20,000 this week meaning he is so close to passing 3 million sales with the album which is incredible. Sales for his first 2 albums are so impressive and have still have more sales left in them.

I never thought I'd ever lose interest in the uk singles chart but it's happened.

Makes me dislike many of the artists that dominate because of streaming.

Maybe I'm just getting old but why is every every song on an album allowed to chart, it's got nothing to do with singles if everyone is streaming (most of) the album??

I should read the streaming rules, I know, I know.

 

Hopefully Steps will knock Ed off his perch (very hopefully!)

People saying they have lost interest in the singles chart are just making knee jerk statements. This week has had the most posts and interest in the singles chart that I can remember in a while and the singles chart will probably get the most exposure and column inches in a long time.

People saying they have lost interest in the singles chart are just making knee jerk statements. This week has had the most posts and interest in the singles chart that I can remember in a while and the singles chart will probably get the most exposure and column inches in a long time.

 

That's because it is the first time it is happening. When it becomes more and more common, people will quickly lose interest.

People saying they have lost interest in the singles chart are just making knee jerk statements. This week has had the most posts and interest in the singles chart that I can remember in a while and the singles chart will probably get the most exposure and column inches in a long time.

 

Hardly a knee jerk statement; I think most people are genuinely horrified that our much beloved Singles chart has been corrupted by album tracks that are NOT singles. It's not about column inches, it's about preserving the integrity of the singles chart OR scrapping it for good and making it just a tracks chart, which few of us want.

 

Either way, Sheeran's album tracks that WILL dominate the singles chart this week, but shouldn't be counted as any kind of new chart record, because artists like Madonna, Elvis, Jackson et al would have all done it before (thank-god they didn't) - my point is there isn't a level playing field anymore - so you can't compare this achievement to say The Beatles domination in the '60's or Madonna's in 1985 - as those singles had to be Physically released to dominate. They were proper singles, not album tracks.

 

IMO the OCC should be ashamed for they way they've handled this fiasco and for destroying something once much-loved - now there will just be apathy for the chart as this will happen again and again now. It will just become dominated by the few.

 

 

 

Also, this is unlikely to be a one week thing. Looking at Spotify, Ed could dominate the top 10 singles charts for weeks to come.

Hi, my first post here. I thought I'd post due to the historic chart we'll be seeing on Friday.

 

I believe the Official Chart Company is incompetent or disinterested in maintaining a fair chart. For example: Justin Bieber had eight album tracks in 2016, three of them at numbers 1, 2 and 3! What did the OCC do about this? Nothing. They didn't change the rules. All they did was promote the chart positions on their site:

 

Bieber’s success on the Official Singles Chart in recent months has been nothing short of phenomenal. Since the release of What Do You Mean back in September, he has held at least one position in the Top 5. And following the release of his latest album Purpose in November, eight of his songs entered the Top 40 – the most ever for a living artist.

 

What we're about to witness on Friday is an inevitable consequence of inaction and disinterest by the OCC. The OCC didn't get together with the record labels and major streaming apps and come to a decision: "no albums tracks are eligible for the UK top 100 singles chart." They have colluded with the streaming apps to allow artists on big labels to have album tracks in the chart. This is wrong as it's misrepresentation - the chart is clearly marketed as the OFFICIAL UK SINGLES CHART, it's not marketed as the 'official UK singles chart with some album tracks included'.

 

The current chart is also unfair to artists with no album deals. Ed Sheeran is hugely popular, fair enough, but why should he have an advantage over every artist/group trying to secure singles success but without an album deal. These artists can't get their album tracks in the singles chart if they've yet to make an album! Ed Sheeran and other popular acts with albums have an unfair advantage. See directly below:

 

Friday's top 100 chart is going to have:

 

18 Ed Sheeran songs (16 from his new album, two songs from other albums)

 

3 Little Mix songs

 

11 Stormzy songs

 

Songs taken from their albums.

 

This shows you how the chart is completely busted. Streaming and album sales are not singles sales and the OCC can't fool us any longer. They've fooled enough people since July 2014 when they incorporated streaming into the official chart but the deception no longer works. We've seen through it. The singles chart should be scrapped as it's unfit for purpose. Let the OCC introduce a new Official Top 100 streaming chart with no album tracks, a one track per artist rule (for eight weeks), and a 20 weeks time limit on all songs in the top 100. I reckon that will invigourate the chart, allow more entries and more movement.

 

Many people have posted on the OCC's comment sections about the problems with streaming. It's not new criticism. Since July 2014 people have been critical of the decision to include streaming, and the way streams are measured in relation to digital downloadsl/physical sales. The OCC have seen the comments on the site. They weren't interested in listening, not interested in changing the chart, not interested in improving it and on Friday the Ed Sheeran chickens come home to roost. Karma can be unkind, OCC!

Edited March 8, 20179 yr by soundman

Apart from everything else, Stormzy doesn't have an "album deal". He released the album himself.

I think the occ does listen

They did change the ratio for instance

We only need a slight rule change so that huge artists don't take up so many positions such as choosing a single as someone posted but streaming being added to the chart is a good thing imo!