Streaming really pisses me off, it's completely ruined the charts tbh, all these supposed million selling singles and albums that actually do not match 'real' million selling singles and albums impact at the time...

 

When you buy an album it's one sale. I have played my favourite albums thousands of times but it's still only one sale. Streaming should be the same. I accept that people pay to use the service so it should be reflected, but one play of an album should be one sale and then no matter how many times you play it after that it's not anymore sales just like a physical CD, just like a download...

Edited August 6, 20186 yr by Spiceboy

Streaming really pisses me off, it's completely ruined the charts tbh, all these supposed million selling singles and albums that actually do not match 'real' million selling singles and albums impact at the time...

 

When you buy an album it's one sale. I have played my favourite albums thousands of times but it's still only one sale. Streaming should be the same. I accept that people pay to use the service so it should be reflected, but one play of an album should be one sale and then no matter how many times you play it after that it's not anymore sales just like a physical CD, just like a download...

 

It's 2018. Things change. People just don't consume music like they used to.

 

Bands that sold well (a certain girl-band comes to mind) in the past would have likely done well with streaming - and vice versa. The current ratio isn't perfect but it's far better than a sales-only chart which doesn't represent popularity at all.

 

 

Omg. Please stop getting defensive. Goodness me.

 

I've agreed with Jay, I'm not a fan of the ratio thing, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it. However, to discredit Little Mix and their popularity coz their physical sales don't match up to what happened in the 90's is ridiculous. The comparisons need to stop. Sales wise at least. People consume things differently now. People don't need to "rush out and buy a copy before they sell out" and panic buy anymore.

 

Imo, Little Mix (you might say I'm just being a blind stan or whatever, but tbh idc) are the closest we've been to Spice Girls/All Saints since them. Definitely culturally at least.

 

Spiceboy, you needn't fret or worry, your girls legacy is still in tact. Times have just moved on. We consume music differently now and it's a lot more convenient and easy for us. How the OCC measures those to get a chart, that's up to them,. Had CDs been the only option to purchase music now, you don't think Little Mix would have sold more physical copies than they currently have?

Omg. Please stop getting defensive. Goodness me.

 

I've agreed with Jay, I'm not a fan of the ratio thing, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it. However, to discredit Little Mix and their popularity coz their physical sales don't match up to what happened in the 90's is ridiculous. The comparisons need to stop. Sales wise at least. People consume things differently now. People don't need to "rush out and buy a copy before they sell out" and panic buy anymore.

 

Imo, Little Mix (you might say I'm just being a blind stan or whatever, but tbh idc) are the closest we've been to Spice Girls/All Saints since them. Definitely culturally at least.

 

Spiceboy, you needn't fret or worry, your girls legacy is still in tact. Times have just moved on. We consume music differently now and it's a lot more convenient and easy for us. How the OCC measures those to get a chart, that's up to them,. Had CDs been the only option to purchase music now, you don't think Little Mix would have sold more physical copies than they currently have?

 

All of this.

 

Little Mix would have succeeded in any other sales climate, and they're clearly the closest thing to the Spice Girls we've had. That doesn't diminish their legacy at all.

 

 

 

Pop nostalgia fan upset by Spotty Fry shocker.

 

 

Spice Girls legacy will never, ever be beat. But if Spotify was around in the 90s and part of the chart Spice Girls would have sold less CDs and had more streams instead and that’s just how it is!

I'm not getting annoyed in my reply at all (although I guessed saying it pisses me off would give that impression lol :lol: ).

 

It also has absolutely nothing to do with Spice Girls whatsoever as they are still the biggest selling girl band without spotify so if anything it just proves how huge they actually were that they continue to out perform in this day on their past achievements. Their impact is totally irrelevant to streaming of all other artists that annoys me.

 

It annoys me that there are so many 'million selling' singles that I don't believe have had the same impact as million sellers of the past and have got there due to repeated plays of a track which is what everyone did in the past anyway simply with a CD yet all those plays never counted before. Songs like Symphony, Unforgettable, Dancing on my own, Hymn for the weekend, Pillowtalk... and so many more are supposed to be on the same level of achievement as songs such as Believe, Karma chameleon, I wanna hold your hand, Unchained melody, Dancing queen, Wannabe. Being a million seller is no longer anything special for just the few songs that really made that huge major break through.

 

I have nothing against streaming itself I just don't understand why it counts as more than one sale when a CD sale doesn't count more than once and a download doesn't count more than once...

 

Also I actually love Little Mix I think they are fantastic, they have some great songs and all four of them are so talented, I actually saw them live this year and came away raving about them they were brilliant. I truly wish them all the success in the world they've been together for ages and are obviously dedicated to their band (far more than Spice Girls ever were!) I am also a massive Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Bananarama and Supremes fan, and also really like Atomic Kitten, a few Saturdays tracks, All Saints and The Bangles. So being a Spice Girls obsessive has nothing to do with it at all before people try to paint that picture of me.

Edited August 6, 20186 yr by Spiceboy

It annoys me that there are so many 'million selling' singles that I don't believe have had the same impact as million sellers of the past and have got there due to repeated plays of a track which is what everyone did in the past anyway simply with a CD yet all those plays never counted before. Songs like Symphony, Unforgettable, Dancing on my own, Hymn for the weekend, Pillowtalk... and so many more are supposed to be on the same level of achievement as songs such as Believe, Karma chameleon, I wanna hold your hand, Unchained melody, Dancing queen, Wannabe. Being a million seller is no longer anything special for just the few songs that really made that huge major break through.

 

I get what you're saying but it's all very relative to time and era. What about songs like La La La, We Are Young, Party Rock Anthem, Chasing Cars, Counting Stars and Grenade which don't feel anywhere near as iconic as the ones you mentioned but are million sellers without streaming. And then there's songs like Shape Of You, Despacito and Sorry which were arguably as massively popular as the ones you mentioned (not as iconic yet as they're too new) but have all sold under a million in actual sales. I think the way music is consumed is changing so much that it's becoming impossible to directly compare some of the stats. Black Magic is currently on just under 600k pure sales, but I feel as though if it were released in 2011 rather than 2015 before pure sales started to collapse, it would certainly have been closing in on a million by now.

I get what you're saying but it's all very relevant to time and era. What about songs like La La La, We Are Young, Party Rock Anthem, Chasing Cars, Counting Stars and Grenade which don't feel anywhere near as iconic as the ones you mentioned but are million sellers without streaming. And then there's songs like Shape Of You, Despacito and Sorry which were arguably as massively popular as the ones you mentioned (not as iconic yet as they're too new) but have all sold under a million in actual sales. I think the way music is consumed is changing so much that it's becoming impossible to directly compare some of the stats. Black Magic is currently on just under 600k pure sales, but I feel as though if it were released in 2011 rather than 2015 before pure sales started to collapse, it would certainly have been closing in on a million by now.

 

This is exactly it.

 

Sales were pretty poor around the time downloads first started taking off and physical singles were on the way out. But there were still some massive hits. It's all relative.

 

 

 

It’s not relative though at all. The others count for one sale these count for numerous sales depending how many times you play it.

It’s not relative though at all. The others count for one sale these count for numerous sales depending how many times you play it.

 

Yes it is.

 

People consume music differently now, and will no doubt consume it differently in a decade. You can't really compare them.

 

Things change, but a hit is a hit. Their sales just reflect the era they were released.

Edited August 7, 20186 yr by blacksquare

Yes it reflects a difference in consuming music that’s fair enough but it is not relative to the past way of consuming music at all. I agree again that a hit is a hit but it’s ridiculous to compare an album that sold 100,000 on cd sales alone which actually had to sell more since one sale only counts for one to an album selling 100,000 now which actually is due to 80,000 streams many of which are by the same person... if it were relative it would only ever be one sale not more.

 

Anyway that’s the last I’m posting I think Little Mix are fabulous and I apologise for taking attention away from them.

My summary is: it's not the same, but it is close enough to fit with the times.

Yes it reflects a difference in consuming music that’s fair enough but it is not relative to the past way of consuming music at all. I agree again that a hit is a hit but it’s ridiculous to compare an album that sold 100,000 on cd sales alone which actually had to sell more since one sale only counts for one to an album selling 100,000 now which actually is due to 80,000 streams many of which are by the same person... if it were relative it would only ever be one sale not more.

 

Anyway that’s the last I’m posting I think Little Mix are fabulous and I apologise for taking attention away from them.

You do realise per account only so many streams count, right? Isn't it meant to be 1 sale for every so many streams and only so many of those streams can be counted per account?

 

It's 100 streams = 1 sale. Not sure on what the capped limit is, but I BELIEVE it's actually less than 100 to avoid fanbases "cheating the system" or whatever. I could be wrong though.

It's 150 streams is one sale on a premium account and 350 streams is a sale on a free account and only 10 streams per person per day count.

It's 150 streams is one sale on a premium account and 350 streams is a sale on a free account and only 10 streams per person per day count.

Yes it reflects a difference in consuming music that’s fair enough but it is not relative to the past way of consuming music at all. I agree again that a hit is a hit but it’s ridiculous to compare an album that sold 100,000 on cd sales alone which actually had to sell more since one sale only counts for one to an album selling 100,000 now which actually is due to 80,000 streams many of which are by the same person... if it were relative it would only ever be one sale not more.

 

Anyway that’s the last I’m posting I think Little Mix are fabulous and I apologise for taking attention away from them.

 

Yes, you do realise it's only one sale per every 150 streams? And a single person can only stream 10 times a day because it get's capped, so a single person would have listen to it 10 times a day for roughly 2 weeks to make it into a sale.

I do understand the points about million sellers today do not have the same impact as million sellers once had.

Million selling singles were extremely rare until recently where it happens all the time.

With that said, how we listen to and access music is now so different.

I would argue that a million selling single today does not net the same revenue as a million selling single did in the years gone by.

I don't think anyone is arguing against that, certifications need to be moved to 300k, 500k and 800k IMO.

 

Any old flop can go silver now, where as genuine hits from 2002 - 2008 still aren't even silver!

Another point i would agree with.

Songs that no longer make the Top 40 but stay in the 41-100 region are gaining silver status with ease although they don't register as hits.

Also people have to understand that the world's population is fast increasing and that access to legal music platforms has risen significantly recently, before Spotify many were select buying on iTunes etc and illegally downloading or ripping other songs, this was all during the era where the internet was gaining mega popularity, which is a reason it hit sales bad between 2002-8.