EliasMooseblaster Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Read this opinion piece on The Grauniad this morning. As one of many people on this forum who's still releasing original material, I don't think I'm in any danger of bothering the UK Top 40 any time soon, but it made for interesting reading: https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/mar/10/ed-sheeran-has-16-songs-in-the-top-20-and-its-a-sign-of-how-sick-the-charts-are So...your thoughts? Do the charts still matter any more if a massively popular artist can now flood them with Spotify streaming figures? Do you agree with the author's premiss that this is actually leading to less diversity of music in the Top 40? Were you, like me, previously oblivious to the fact that these streaming figures contributed to this ranking of songs? (Alternative Q: anyone want to explain the appeal of Mr Sheeran to me? I remain mystified.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisK1975 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) Was only talking about this yesterday. We were also saying it was daft. 16 songs of the 'official' top 20 being by one artist? Just ridiculous. Does anyone actually take any notice of the charts any more? Do they even still do the 'top 40' on Sunday evening on Radio 1? (honest question, I don't know). I'm assuming not. If they do it must make for a great listen at the moment, with the last hour+ being all one artist. Edited March 13, 2017 by LewisK1975 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Broken? I reckon they're fixed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 streamng and downloads have completely distorted the top 40, there's little difference between albums and singles, as young people tend not to buy albums anymore just download/ stream the tracks they want, no I don't get Ed Sheeran either, but then again I not supposed to like modern music I'm too old, it's one of the laws of the universe, he's doing well in the vinyl chart as well, but at least I can ignore him, rap just makes me turn the radio off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Perhaps bands should declare the song they want as the single, and any other downloads discounted from the chart. It would make it better as the choice could prove crucial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Would make for an interesting episode of TOTP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH73 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 I don't even know who the current stars are. I haven't bothered in past 20 odd years. I'll stick with Iron Maiden.This os where my heart is. Of course I listen to other stuff and love 80's. I could do better than chart music.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Not 'arf, pop pickers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectoremg Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 [quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1489418895' post='3256738'] Would make for an interesting episode of TOTP! [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectoremg Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 A question that's wasted on me. I'm watching the charts on the '83 reruns of TOTP lately. It strikes me that the streaming situation is massively open to abuse. A question that isn't wasted on me is Ed Sheeran's talent. He's brilliant, he can use a looper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 I hadn't thought much of it until this post but the terms chart and top forty have been absent from my life for many years. I think the last time I was aware that there was a chart was when TOTP was going out regularly. I should explain at this point that I don't stream or do downloads as seems to be the norm. New music usually reaches me from stations like BBC 6Music and Radio 2. As Paul says, it's supposed to be this way. In my mid fifties, I really can't be arsed with a lot of the popular stuff. I couldn't say I either like or dislike Ed Sheeran's music. I just don't hear it. Instead I notice how he seems to polarise opinion about his work. Isn't that just the way of art forms generally? Is the Top 40 broken? I'd make a guess that it is probably as good as the days when charts were influenced directly by runners buying up 45s in bulk in ye olden times. I never chose music based on chart positions much so I won't loose sleep over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquipment Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 No idea what top 40 is ... haven't looked at it for like the last 20 years haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 To be fair, most of the stuff worth listening to hasn't been big chart wise for 40 years if not more. Some stuff breaks through but if you used the charts as a way to hear original new music I think your hit rate would be fairly low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) They shouldn't include streaming, only downloads. My daughter has been streaming one song several times a journey every time she gets in the car. One person could be responsible for maybe 100plays in one week. To me that's not really a true measure of 'popularity' of a song. . Edited March 13, 2017 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1489432122' post='3256893'] They shouldn't include streaming, only downloads. My daughter has been streaming one song several times a journey every time she gets in the car. One person could be responsible for maybe 100plays in one week. To me that's not really a true measure of 'popularity' of a song. . [/quote] I entirely agree ... except ... what makes the number of physical 45rpm singles sold a better answer? As a teenager I bought loads of 45s. Some got played twice and then never again, some were still being played regularly years later. The charts of my yoof didn't detect any of that. A 1973 Top 20 chart based purely on the number of plays each song got on UK radio would look different from a chart based on sales, but would be equally valid or invalid depending on your point of view. Streaming is just radio-on-demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Wasn't radio always a bit biased in what it played and was as much an influence on what people could hear/was being bought as much as reflecting what was being bought? I recall back when Gorillaz released their first album. My mate got all annoyed as the singles were remixes which were more uptempo than the album tracks. I'm in no position to say if that's true or not but I recall him getting quite annoyed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='krispn' timestamp='1489480772' post='3257216'] Wasn't radio always a bit biased in what it played ... [/quote] Understatement of the year so far ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1489479588' post='3257198'] I entirely agree ... except ... what makes the number of physical 45rpm singles sold a better answer? As a teenager I bought loads of 45s. Some got played twice and then never again, some were still being played regularly years later. The charts of my yoof didn't detect any of that. A 1973 Top 20 chart based purely on the number of plays each song got on UK radio would look different from a chart based on sales, but would be equally valid or invalid depending on your point of view. Streaming is just radio-on-demand. [/quote] It's a measure of how many people like what you produce rather than a measure of how much those people like you. Spotify works on a monthly fee basis, not a per play basis. So commercially they're more interested in someone who sells to a wide fan base rather than someone who has a small fanatical fan base. Downloads are similar. No one really cares how many times the download is played. It's irrelevant. What's important is how many sales the artist makes. It's what drives revenue and advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HengistPod Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I have recently taken vague notice of the "charts", because my 10-year-old suddenly wants to listen to Radio 1 in the car all the time now. Most of the stuff that's in there is fairly inoffensive. I can let it play and kind of ignore it - it really is that bland. I have no idea what the "artists'" names are, but there does appear to be a Top 40 rundown still. It's even done with a straight face. As for the Sheeran fellow, I understand he's getting to do something in the upcoming series of Game of Thrones. Perhaps he'll play a minstrel, and be slaughtered in an interesting way for being offensive. He strikes me as the kind of bloke that would go along with that for a laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1489481308' post='3257220'] Understatement of the year so far ... [/quote] Yes! Biased in what they play, say, do... Can't expect much more from the British Biased Corporation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='krispn' timestamp='1489480772' post='3257216'] Wasn't radio always a bit biased in what it played ... [/quote] [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1489481308' post='3257220'] Understatement of the year so far ... [/quote] [quote name='dood' timestamp='1489484527' post='3257262'] Yes! Biased in what they play, say, do... Can't expect much more from the British Biased Corporation [/quote] Oh bloody hell Dood, get a grip! I was talking about radio in general, not the BBC. I'd say more, but you've already dragged f***ing politics into this topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 It's like the chat room for SAGA Holidays in here. Not that I lurk in the SAGA Holidays chat room and am able to make this comparison from personal experience, of course. That is all. As you were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1489486236' post='3257273'] It's like the chat room for SAGA Holidays in here. Not that I lurk in the SAGA Holidays chat room and am able to make this comparison from personal experience, of course. That is all. As you were. [/quote]is there a poll anywhere on how old Basschaters are? we do seem to be a moaning old bunch don't we. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 the chart to me seems like an utter shambles, its now on friday, rather than sunday, singles and albums are now released on fridays, not mondays... the thing with streaming being counted is that effectively, if i listen to an album say 3 times in one day on spotify, each song on that album gets a play, so say 100,000 people did that, each song on the album is getting 300,000 plays, as such shoots up the chart. effectively we could get any old sh*t in the chart if we got enough people to stream it. downloads are different because i think a lot of people now just download individual songs, in the same way that we would buy a single in the old days. streaming has just distorted it for me and the whole concept of a sales chart seems outdated if you just have to have a song played, i often leave spotify playing and forget about it, obviously racking up plays of songs i don't care about, is that a true reflection of a songs popularity? that said, i don't care because i don't listen to the chart anymore or radio for that matter. in regard Ed Sheeran, his songs are simple, catchy and well written pop songs, and on top of that he seems to be a genuinely down to earth and nice bloke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Yep. Set up a server with 100 virtual machines streaming the same song over and over again. You could increase the figures by 300,000 a week. Would be fairly easy to do at home in your bedroom, assuming Spotify isn't watching for this kind of behaviour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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