The
New Age of Music
Charts
Music
Charts, the Internet and the
Industry
Ever since
the sales of records were
monitored, fans have eagerly
awaited the new music chart,
showing the positions of their
favorite artists each week.
Types of
Music Charts
There are
the general charts and sub genres
for country music, classical and
R & B. It's always been more
of a challenge to achieve a
number one hit on the American
Billboard than a UK number one
and British artists have always
had Billboard success as a
goal.
Times have
changed and the music media has
had to adapt to people's changing
habits. Shows that present the
hits of the day have fallen out
of favor, as audiences prefer TV
and radio that specializes in a
certain type of music. The MTV
generation can pick and choose
from numerous channels and not
simply watch a rundown of the
latest music chart.
Music
Charts and the
Internet
Downloading
from the Internet is having a big
impact on the sales from record
stores. The recent number one UK
hit, Crazy from Gnarls Barclay
was the result of downloads sales
alone. The Arctic Monkeys, a
British guitar band, achieved
success through the MySpace web
site and had the biggest selling
debut album of UK history. It's
not that the music chart is no
longer important, but it's being
formulated in a different way.
After dragging their heels, the
compilers had to take legal
downloading into
account.
Many
artists want to get the Christmas
number one. These are the songs
that everyone remembers and
repeat plays are very lucrative.
The UK band Slade still lives off
the profits from their yuletide
hit.
There are
some classics brought out for a
spin at this time of year,
including John and Yoko's Merry
Christmas, War Is Over and the
Pogue's Fairytale of New York,
featuring Kirsty McColl. There
have also been some festive
offerings, best not
remembered.
Controversy
has sometimes involved the music
industry and some disk jockeys
have been cited for payola. This
is when a presenter has taken a
bribe to play a certain record,
in order to push it up the music
chart.
Are
Music Charts
Accurate?
Every now
and then, the question is asked
as to how accurate the charts
are. Artists don't have to sell
as many copies to get that
coveted number one spot now but
there is more competition than
existed in the 1960s and 1970s
era.
Many
performers focus on the album
charts and don't bother much with
the sale of singles. Mega stars
like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd
filled huge stadiums without much
success through the singles music
chart.
The Beatles
were successful in both, notably
having the top five places on the
singles chart in the USA when
they first appeared in America.
This is a Tinkers to Chance in
the music industry!
|
