Celeb News: UK record executives talk about Drake and streaming

Dark XXX

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A number of voices have spoken out about the stagnancy of the U.K. Singles Chart after BBC Radio 1 playlist boss Chris Price weighed in on the issue last week. Modest! boss Harry Magee, Arctic Monkeys' manager Ian McAndrew and digital exec Sammy Andrews have all offered their opinion.

It’s the issue du jour in Blighty at the moment as Drake looks headed for his 15th consecutive week at #1 on the Official Singles Chart with “One Dance,” thanks to its continued popularity on streaming services. The track topped the U.K.’s sales-only chart in its first three weeks, with streaming powering the remaining 11 weeks.

The Official Chart's sales and streaming formula, where 100 streams count as equivalent to one single sale, has resulted in the charts measuring engagement over time, rather than one-off purchases. Price suggested the chart should either discount curated playlist streams or include radio airplay to ensure new artists get a chance at a high placing.

Magee agreed that it’s a problem, telling the BBC: "There's been a lot of talk about how hard it is to break a new act at the minute - and it certainly is. It's harder for artists and it's harder for the industry. It's a problem we're still getting our heads around.” McAndrew, meanwhile, praised streaming for serving as a platform for music being discovered. “So while it may distort the charts, it serves as an access point for new music,” he pointed out.

Pretty long but I've highlighted the important parts.

Dark XXX

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Digital exec Sammy Andrews isn't so easily appeased, and has proposed a number of considered measures to make the singles charts better reflect demand. Writing for Medium, Andrews—who has history at 19 Entertainment, Cooking Vinyl and is now Director of her own firm Entertainment Intelligence—said it’s “out-dated industry regulations and formulas around a form of consumption that many have clearly yet to understand fully” that’s the problem. “The way we are classifying streaming in the charts right now is an absolute farce,” she added.

The 100 streams rule should be scrapped, argued Andrews, and replaced by either a new system, or a split chart “to truly reflect what people are listening to and discovering for the first time,” across all DSPs, including YouTube, and based on unique listens.

“Streaming ultimately rewards longevity, but the singles chart specifically is surely there to show us what’s gaining momentum right now, not what’s swelled over time,” she reasons. “To give us a glimpse into real time tastes and trends… NOT to show us what’s on repeat on someone’s stereo.”

http://m.hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=302069

qurl

so basically they're saying streaming makes song placements sit in one place for too long and disproportionately affect the popularity of some songs over others ??

Superbitch

well damn it is weird I saw he was out of the top 20 on sales but #1 on the official chart. The 100 streams sounds a bit weird how does the US one work again?

Amethyst

Quote:

Originally posted by qurl

so basically they're saying streaming makes song placements sit in one place for too long and disproportionately affect the popularity of some songs over others ??

Exactly lol.

Why don't the UK charts include radio though?
I think streaming is a problem here because people go on spotify and hit the Most Popular songs playlist and they will always be listening to One Dance, for example. Not because they want to, just because it's there and most of them can't skip it.

BlueTimberwolf

He's right. Add in other forms of streaming or make the streams unique. No reason for the #1 song be out of the top 20 of sales and radio.

Superbitch

Quote:

Originally posted by qurl

so basically they're saying streaming makes song placements sit in one place for too long and disproportionately affect the popularity of some songs over others ??

I thinks its more about the formula they use 100 streams=1 sale. They should include youtube as well..idk about radio since their radio formats are weird af... I still don't get that **** about "playlisted"

Dark Matter

UK doesn't include radio because it's not decided by the consumer to hear that track, where as the streams that count are manually selected by the user.

Diarrhoea

Every time HDD write 'blighty', a little part of my soul dies. Stop it fat. Stop it NOW. This is NOT a real phrase we use. STOP pretending to be cool and edgy. Imagine if every time we wrote about America, we called y'all Amery. How the f*** would you like it? So ****ing extra and annoying. Stay pressed @ how our charts are transparent and fun, you ****ing dips***s at HDD.

OT: This is why we should have a chart based on gross like films

Shawn

Not the BBC broadcasting monopoly wanting even more power.

Adonis

Quote:

Originally posted by Amethyst

Exactly lol.

Why don't the UK charts include radio though?
I think streaming is a problem here because people go on spotify and hit the Most Popular songs playlist and they will always be listening to One Dance, for example. Not because they want to, just because it's there and most of them can't skip it.

They UK actually has it right. If people aren't willing to use the record outside of paid advertisements and promo deals then it's not the popular.

ItsRic

I agree with all of this. It really is hard to break new artists and streaming should make that easy, but it's not. It's making it harder to do so because the charts' algorithm for streaming is so ****ed up, it's almost unfair. And I agree with the post saying that the plays are mostly coming from curated playlists and the song gets played because you can't skip it. One Dance shouldn't be #1 that long. I don't even like that song. It seems like rap songs are very strong in the streaming department (because of its market, basically), so if they want to keep clear of having rap songs bombard the charts they better change the algorithm quick (like excluding plays from curated playlists).

Kingie

This is the first anti-streaming argument I agree with.

Not the part about radio (because UK radio is a mess due to only 2 stations having any weight, which would just cause the same issue as this) but playlists should be taken into account somehow. I still have only heard One Dance a single time, despite it being so huge, yet I've been spammed with songs that haven't even peaked Top 5

Nialler

I agree, the charts here are a joke since streaming exploded

JonginBey

MANUELF

Quote:

Originally posted by Superbitch

well damn it is weird I saw he was out of the top 20 on sales but #1 on the official chart. The 100 streams sounds a bit weird how does the US one work again?

1500 streams = 1 sale

Diarrhoea

Quote:

Originally posted by MANUELF

1500 streams = 1 sale

That's for albums. In the US I think it's similar numbers to the UK (100 streams = 1 sale) - maybe an even lower ratio. Also, the US has far more streams as y'all include video streams and we don't.

Wonderland

There's truth in this. A lot of truth.

monsterLd

I still don't understand why people are shocked over the Drake situation like ALL of my friends literally love him and his music. Heck even I've started to like him

And I suppose UK radio cannot be included in the charts seeing as all radio stations (one in particular is known for this) basically play 5, maybe 6 songs on repeat all day.

Tsuko

Quote:

Originally posted by MANUELF

1500 streams = 1 sale

Do you think Work or Panda would've ever got #1 with that ratio?

No, the ratio is much lower than that, I think someone estimated that it's something like 175:1. Or maybe it was 125:1, I can't remember. The US has a higher ratio, but the streaming includes Youtube, and the chart includes airplay as well.

You could say sales count more for the US chart, since it seems sales count for about 22% of the Hot 100 every week, whilst sales count for about 19% of the UK chart usually.