Grandwicky

Yeah and I don't understand how some people see trying to a write a song with Spotify in mind as a good thing or when people just dismiss it just the way things are now, (or how and why some people here think streaming actually makes the chart represent what people like more than it used to, us who like some alternative music don't exist then? :rolleyes: ) it's not only made the charts slower it's dipped the quality of the music in it as well, we really need to stop this rot but I'm not sure how that can be done right now. The OCC need to find a way to stop these playlists influencing the charts so much anyway, it should be about what people like rather than what people have come across on a popular playlist. On topic: Jess Glynne will get it for a couple of weeks or so and then Clean Bandit. After that it'll be another 'big name', will we get anyone having their first number one at all this year?

It's not much at all in the grand scheme of things when firstly 1 million streams can be a lot of people who would have otherwise bought the song and paid the artist A LOT more money and secondly a million streams could do a lot for someone chart wise meanwhile 7500 sales wouldn't get you a week in the chart. The trouble these services are having is the more people use them the more money they pay out but the fact that artists aren't paid enough is the main reason that the streaming model cannot work (at least in it's current form) in the long run.

[link] [/link] The lyrics are very quotable, fingers crossed the song lives up to them! So hyped for this! :cheer:

Wow I didn't even know about that, I don't understand why anyone would even bother with that! Surely the OCC would have known about things like this and would have thought at some point maybe taking it into account as someone having no control over what they listen to and not being able to skip anything surely can't be counted as part of a 'sale'? (they should have asked questions like this before they started counting streaming as it's so much more complicated than a simple sale because someone bought it) I know some people are sick of streaming sceptics but they've really got to fix a lot in order to keep the chart about what the most popular songs are because if streaming keeps dominating even more then more songs will get higher because mobile users couldn't skip them despite not liking them and I don't see how anyone can really defend that.

This works so much better as an album rather than individual songs, I liked it on first listen but I'm absolutely loving it now more songs have grown on me. :wub:

10 The View From the Afternoon 10 I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor 09 Fake Tales of San Francisco 08 Dancing Shoes 07 You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me 09 Still Take You Home 06 Riot Van 08 Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured 10 Mardy Bum 07 Perhaps Vampires is A Bit Strong But... 08 When the Sun Goes Down 11 From the Ritz to the Rubble 10 A Certain Romance

1. Keala Settle - This Is Me 2. Rudimental & Jess Glynne - These Days 3. Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss 4. Portugal The Man - Feel It Still 5. Drake - God's Plan (honourable mention for No Tears Left To Cry) When you look at it Keala Settle would have been #1 if it was a sales chart and still be in the top ten now (coupled with the fact the The Greatest Showman album has done over 500,000 in actual sales) and Rudimental would have been number one for about six weeks! I've made a long post in the Streaming - General Discussion thread (my first post in ages so hi anyone that remembers me :hi: ) but if we're going to count streaming we've got to make it represent the amount of people that actually like a certain song rather than the amount that people listen to it! (as I said in the streaming thread I hate streaming and what's it's doing to the music industry but it's a major way people consume music right now)

It does worry me how dominate streaming has now become and how far actual sales in both singles and albums have declined and continue to. There have been so many misleading articles from the likes of the Guardian etc. about it 'saving the music industry' when in the long term it's doing the opposite! The way it works at the minute not a lot of money goes to the most important people: THE ARTISTS. They have to work out a lot before it's anywhere near as beneficial as actually buying music and Spotify hasn't ever even made a profit and is in massive debt! I'm sad enough to have figured it would literally take 252 Spotify plays or 128 Apple Music plays to even pay someone a penny! This is the reason so many old bands are reforming, concert tickets are becoming more expensive and they seem to be tour all the time as their royalties are drying up as paying people are paying £10 to listen to anything they want rather than pay for their music! (remember some artists need to sell records before they can actually go on tour) If it becomes the norm probably more people will write a song try to get onto a playlist or start with your main hook to avoid skipping for even really small artists then it's just going to kill creativity make everything so bland and boring, also what about growers? (like the new Arctic Monkeys album which I'm now loving) Will that concept die out? In general this it's completely devaluing music and making the chart very slow and boring, but it's probably too late to turn back now, I agree with some sentiments here that at the minute the chart now basically measures how much people listen to something rather than how many people like it so maybe free users should count less or the streaming ratio needs to be changed again to emphasise the importance of the sale and yes playlists should certainly count less! Look at the difference Bad Vibe being moved up in Hot Hits UK made! Surely the fact that one playlist makes such a difference means it's not a chart that represents what people actually LIKE! What gets me is that they allowed the 'listen offline' function so easily which I feel has contributed to people feeling they don't need to pay for music anymore. It's annoying as streaming prevents small artists from making the chart due to someone listening to the same playlist for months and it gives power to generic music meanwhile a slightly more alternative song can be in the top 20 biggest sellers and not even make the chart (Alice Merton) To make a real life example of how unfair the current system is if you owned a pub and told me to pay £4 for a pint you wouldn't like if I said "Actually I'll pay £10 a month and drink as much as I like in not only your pub but every pub I go to and you'll receive around 0.9425595p per pint,ok?" This article sums up most of my feelings: "No, Streaming Services Are Not 'Saving The Music Industry' Recent reports that streaming is now the 'biggest money-maker' for the music biz have prompted hyperbolic claims that Spotify and co have 'saved the music industry'. In reality, this could not be further from the truth This week it was announced that streaming platforms generated $7.1 billion in revenue in 2017, outstripping physical and other digital sales to become "music’s biggest money-maker". Cue articles like this, in The Guardian, which herald the dawn of a glorious new era of musical democracy, a world where bedroom artists and megastars alike are given equal access to a platform with the potential to make them huge, and a world where for the first time in a decade the people at the top have proper financial clout. Streaming, we are told, has apparently "saved the music industry". It is an attractive prospect to believe that the longstanding wars of grossly unfair artist revenues that have long-dogged Spotify and its ilk are now resolved, but this is wishful thinking. The amounts of money made at the top might be steadily increasing, but this means nothing lest it trickle down, and for many artists on the exciting fringes of music, the kind we cover here at The Quietus, that isn’t happening. Take the artists signed to one of tQ’s favourite labels, Rocket Recordings, for example – home to Goat, Gnod and Josefin Ohrn. For them the idea of streaming platforms as salvation is “A load of bloody nonsense. Yes, streaming income is going up for us,” says founder Chris Reeder, “but it is a minute amount.” The estimated amount of money that a single stream earns an artist on Spotify is $0.00397. Even though one listener might stream their favourite track hundreds of times, and a stream does not necessarily represent a missed sale, this is a pitiful sum. It requires new listeners to find the music in the first place, and millions upon millions of plays for this to translate to anything approaching a decent revenue. This can be done, of course, by arena-fillers like Ed Sheeran, but those not as popular in the mainstream must almost always bend to the will of the platform and become stream-friendly. “We are told we have to feed the 'algorithms' to help us be able make more pennies from it, which we are trying to do, but I can see it being a lot of hard work for very little reward,” continues Reeder. As The Guardian notes, the very nature of popular music is changing as a result of this pandering to fit the Spotify algorithm, getting rid of a long introduction from a song to make it less skippable, for example, or releasing alternate versions of tracks to appeal to curated playlists like ‘Perfect Concentration’ and ‘Peaceful Guitar’. But to submit to this system comes at the cost of artistic integrity. An alternate version of a track created entirely to earn a spot on ‘Infinite Acoustic’ in order to squeeze more streaming money might make commercial sense, but artistically this is pointless, empty and vapid in the extreme. Why should a musician have to compromise their work so drastically in order to make the money they need to survive? Progressive music that goes against the aesthetics of whatever the mainstream might be at any given point by its very nature does not cater to the whims of a Spotify algorithm. Now that streaming is the industry's biggest money-maker it has become the overriding force in music consumption. This dominance will only increase as time goes on, and for artists to gain anything as a result requires them to conform or die. There are exceptions, most notably in zeitgeist-seizing movements like grime that are both artistically essential and buoyed by the kind of mass appeal that in effect bypasses the need for a leg-up from the algorithms, but such a lethal combination is rare indeed. Not everything that is great is as popular. With more money in the music industry, it is hoped this will naturally find its way back into recruiting new artists, but if high streaming figures and a spot on the ‘Walk Like A Badass’ playlist (562,000 followers) of generic rock stompers or the torturously soggy acoustic wash that is ‘Your Coffee Break’ (400,000 followers) are of primary concern, then up-and-coming artists who naturally cater to this will be of primary importance; major labels already have analytics expert to scout the unsigned talent that’s making the most impact within the algorithms. As Sahil Varma of the 37 Adventures label told The Guardian: “If you walked into any major label meeting this week, the thing they’d be talking about is how ‘Spotify-friendly’ an artist is. By that, they mean: can they get on Spotify’s playlists, such as New Pop Revolution or Chilled Pop?” This is of course, to some extent, how major labels have always worked; they have naturally always signed the acts who are the most marketable. The difference now, however, is that they are not selling directly to the public, but to the streaming platforms and their algorithms in the hope that the product is smooth enough around the edges to fit neatly alongside others of the same type. Both the industry’s direction and the consumer’s tastes are being shaped by playlists that aim for uniformity and bluntness, meaning that music itself will become increasingly uniform and blunt. This is the cost of Spotify ‘saving’ the music industry, and it’s a dear one. It feels unusual that there is a need to point out that artists should want to rail against homogeneity, but this is an era where if you want to be successful you must do precisely the opposite. For artists on small labels that once would have got by on a few thousand sales, there will be no great new influx of dearly needed cash to pay for equipment, studio time, mastering, manufacture and so on. Cosey Fanni Tutti, who as part of Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti was able to make groundbreaking music in a time when underground records did sell, says that she feels that "a lot of musicians are in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' position. Access and accessibility to music is crucial but creativity is being devalued by giving away the work as if it’s 'disposable' wallpaper." She adds that established artists like TG and Carter Tutti "have a small advantage. Through their fan base they can to some (lesser) extent mitigate the loss of revenue through some physical sales - vinyl mainly or by performing live gigs (if you’re fit enough and can get bookings). The younger musicians don’t have that. Just how do people expect new music to come through when the value of it's vital place in our lives is reduced to a 'giveaway'." And, of course, there is still one area in which people contribute far more than a tenner a month to listen to music on streaming services: "People seem happy to pay the big business players though - buying a device on which they can stream the music they pay nothing for," Cosey says. Labels we speak to at tQ report selling only 10-20% of what they did before streaming, so where will the money come from to provide decent places to record, mastering, production and getting the music out there? The Spotify crumbs are never going to fill that gap. It might be easier than ever to get your music online, but for many artists it still costs a lot of money to make in the first place. If streaming platforms keep growing more and more influence over how music is curated and marketed by those in charge, while the revenue for those not mundane enough to fit their algorithms remains so pitifully minute, it is not that impossible to envisage the blandest landscape the industry has ever seen. Great music will continue being made, of course, but getting that music out to people outside of the algorithms will be so much harder. “I hope I am wrong,” says Reeder. “I hope the revenue from streaming does improve, because if it doesn't, well, who knows how positive the future will be for the majority of music makers and labels out there?”" Sorry for the wall of text!

Saturday 9th September: Man City 1-2 Liverpool (12:30) Arsenal 1-1 Bournemouth Brighton 1-2 West Brom Everton 0-1 Tottenham Leicester 2-2 Chelsea Southampton 110 Watford Stoke 0-2 Man Utd (17:30) Sunday 10th September: Burnley 1-0 Crystal Palace (13:30) Swansea City 0-0 Newcastle United (16:00) Monday 11th September: West Ham United 0-1 Huddersfield Town (20:00)

Saturday 26th August Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester City (12:30) Crystal Palace 1-1 Swansea Huddersfield 1-2 Southampton Newcastle 0-0 West Ham Watford 2-1 Brighton Manchester United 3-2 Leicester (17:30) Sunday 27th August Chelsea 2-1 Everton (13:30) West Brom 1-0 Stoke (13:30) Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal (16:00) Tottenham 1-0 Burnley (16:00)

Saturday 19th August: Swansea 0-2 Man United Bournemouth 1-1 Watford Burnley 0-0 West Brom Leicester City 3-1 Brighton Liverpool 2-1 Crystal Palace Southampton 1-1 West Ham United Stoke City 1-1 Arsenal Sunday 20th August: Huddersfield Town 2-1 Newcastle United Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Chelsea Monday 21st August: Manchester City 3-2 Everton

1. Manchester United 2. Manchester City 3. Chelsea 4. Liverpool 5. Arsenal 6. Tottenham Hotspur 7. Everton 8. Southampton 9. Crystal Palace 10. Leicester City 11. West Ham 12. Watford 13. West Brom 14. Swansea 15. Stoke 16. Bournemouth 17. Brighton 18. Newcastle United 19. Huddersfield 20. Burnley Golden Boot: Gabriel Jesus Player of Season: Kevin de Bruyne First Managerial Sacking: Mark Hughes Championship: Promoted: Midddlesbrough, Norwich, Fulham Relegated: Millwall, Barnsley Bolton League One: Promoted: Oxford, Bradford, Scunthorpe Relegated: Rotherham, Oldham, Blackpool, Walsall League Two: Promoted: Luton, Swindon, Port Vale, Accrington Relegated: Yeovil, Cheltenham A mixture of gut feeling, signings, bias, it being the part of the Mourinho cycle where he wins it before loses the dressing room and the fact City are lacking proven quality centre backs that won't get injured are what concluded me to hand the title to Manchester United. Back in the glory days me predicting a win was usually a curse so I might look ridiculous come May but that is part of why I love doing this! The signings we have made are enough to turn the draws we had from last season into wins and changes like having Matic meaning we might play Pogba in a more suitable position might help to compensate for the lack of Zlatan. City will score a lot of goals but Guardiola will again keep relying on scoring more goals than he concedes. The Wembley factor will hinder Spurs this time and even without Coutinho I expect Liverpool to hold off them Arsenal and Everton who will certainly be top four contenders this season. People are pessimistic about Watford and Swansea but I think with their respective managers they will be just fine. Burnley will struggle this season as they lack the quality that kept them afloat last season. I rate David Wagner and Huddersfield will be competitive but I they may be victims of their own success and Newcastle due to Mike Ashley being Mike Ashley even with the Rafa factor (I expect him and Conte to resign before the end of the season) will be the final team to fall through the trap door. And those are my predictions literally one minute before the new season kicks off! :cheer:

Arsenal 2-0 Leicester City Watford 1-2 Liverpool Chelsea 2-0 Burnley Crystal Palace 2-0 Huddersfield Town Everton 1-0 Stoke City Southampton 1-1 Swansea City West Brom 2-1 AFC Bournemouth Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Manchester City Newcastle United 0-2 Tottenham Manchester United 2-1 West Ham

Bournemouth 2-0 Middlesbrough Hull 1-0 Watford Swansea 1-1 Stoke West Ham 1-2 Everton Burnley 0-2 Man Utd Liverpool 2-1 Crystal Palace

Tottenham 2-0 Bournemouth Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester Everton 2-0 Burnley Stoke 0-0 Hull Sunderland 1-1 West Ham Watford 1-0 Swansea Southampton 1-3 Manchester City West Brom 0-1 Liverpool Manchester United 1-0 Chelsea Middlesbrough 0-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 2-0 Watford Manchester City 2-1 Hull Middlesbrough 0-0 Burnley Stoke 0-1 Liverpool West Brom 1-1 Southampton West Ham 0-1 Swansea Bournemouth 0-2 Chelsea Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United Everton 1-1 Leicester Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal

Liverpool 1-1 Everton Burnley 0-2 Tottenham Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace Hull 1-0 West Ham Leicester 2-0 Stoke Manchester United 1-0 West Brom Watford 0-0 Sunderland Southampton 1-1 Bournemouth Swansea 2-0 Middlesbrough Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

West Brom 0-2 Arsenal Crystal Palace 1-1 Watford Everton 1-1 Hull Stoke 0-3 Chelsea Sunderland 1-1 Burnley West Ham 0-1 Leicester Bournemouth 2-2 Swansea Middlesbrough 0-3 Man Utd Tottenham 2-1 Southampton Man City 1-1 Liverpool

Bournemouth 1-1 West Ham Everton 2-1 West Brom Hull 1-1 Swansea Liverpool 2-0 Burnley

How much did 25 do on the first day again? :unsure:

Man Utd 3-0 Bournemouth Leicester 2-1 Hull Stoke 1-0 Middlesbrough Swansea 1-1 Burnley Watford 1-2 Southampton West Brom 1-0 Crystal Palace Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal Tottenham 2-1 Everton Sunderland 0-2 Man City West Ham 1-2 Chelsea

Arsenal 1-0 Hull Manchester United 2-1 Watford Middlesbrough 1-2 Everton Stoke 2-0 Crystal Palace Sunderland 0-0 Southampton West Ham 2-1 West Brom Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham Burnley 0-2 Chelsea Swansea 2-1 Leicester Bournemouth 0-3 Manchester City

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal Crystal Palace 2-1 Sunderland Everton 2-0 Bournemouth Hull 0-1 Liverpool Southampton 1-0 West Ham Watford 0-0 Burnley West Brom 1-1 Stoke Tottenham 2-0 Middlesbrough Man City 2-0 Swansea Leicester 1-3 Man Utd

Completely forgot to do yesterday's :o West Ham 0-2 Manchester City Manchester United 2-1 Hull Stoke 0-1 Everton

Liverpool 2-0 Swansea Bournemouth 1-1 Watford Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton Middlesbrough 0-1 West Ham Stoke 0-2 Man Utd West Brom 1-0 Sunderland Man City 2-2 Tottenham Southampton 0-1 Leicester Arsenal 2-0 Burnley Chelsea 2-0 Hull