How it will affect Billboard Hot 100
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj
Billboard has generated test charts in recent weeks, letting its editors compare their charts with and without the new data. The differences are subtle, with the streaming data boosting certain songs in the rankings.
The effect is most notable on electronic dance-music songs, which don't get much radio airplay and tend to attract younger listeners who may not bother buying songs from Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.
For the week ended March 4, songs by two popular electronic acts—M83 and Skrillex—would have made it into the lower reaches of the Hot 100 if streaming-music data had been counted, but they didn't appear in the chart as published in Billboard. Still, those songs' theoretical positions—No. 77 and No. 85, respectively—
highlight that the new chart represents a tweak, not an overhaul. Otherwise, the ranking changes are mostly subtle shifts up or down a few notches. In the most recent week, none of the top four songs would have been affected.
Mr. Werde noted that people tend to gravitate to the same songs, whether they are buying them, renting them or listening to the radio.
"People really like hits," he said.
For now, the new chart doesn't include several popular online destinations including Google Inc.'s YouTube, the video-streaming site that is effectively the Web's most widely used on-demand music service thanks to its trove of millions of music videos.
Both Billboard's Mr. Werde and a YouTube spokeswoman said the two sides are working on a way to add the video site's data.
