Top 40 Charts and Downloads: It's like Music to My Ears

Vero Pepperrell writes...

Digital music has brought on a complete revolution in how we treat music, we just can't deny it. We can collect and share music more easily and, generally, for cheaper, than ever before. Getting our mitts on new music can be done in seconds, and we can wiggle our bums to new tunes, weeks before it's available in shops.

So is the Top 40 Singles Chart still representative of our favourite songs?

For the singles chart to really represent our current coup-de-coeur tunes, it has to reflect how we buy the music. At the moment, digital sales are only being partially represented, with thousands of purchases being ignored because they're outside of the period retailers and record companies take in account.

A striking example is the Scissor Sisters' "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" single, which sold almost 45,000 copies online before becoming eligible for the main chart, according to Music Week magazine. That's madness!

"Unfortunately, we're in this period of transition where there's a reluctance in some quarters to let go of the physical part of the single. That has resulted in some of these rules, which I just think are slowing us down," said EMI chief executive Tony Wadsworth when speaking to the BBC.

"A single can be made available for sale digitally as soon as it goes to radio and it's got a sales life which is not actually being represented in the chart until one week before a physical format is released, and that just seems absurd."

Commoditisation of music

Some music traditionalists seem disapproving of this commoditisation of music, claiming music is now a consumer good, which we use for a short period of time then dispose of.

It's true that the cycle of creation, production and consumption of music happens at light speed in comparison to the olden days, but it results in people with a varied range of interests and tastes, comparable to people seeing more of the world now than ever before because travel is cheap and easy. We don't hold back from seeing more of the world now because it's for leisure rather than for commerce necessity or a pilgrimage, do we?

Granted, an easy music production cycle has made producing rubbish is also easier, but it's up to us to decide what we want to listen to - rubbish or not!

Store charts like Gruyere cheese

As the rules change, brick & mortar shops will find themselves at a disadvantage, as singles will possibly peak in popularity before they can be bought in stores. How would that look in shop?

Either release dates will be more in sync with each other, so both digital and physical albums are available at the same time, or stores will suffer the effects of being behind.

The "album" concept is also seemingly falling apart in this day where we tend to pick and choose and may not necessarily want an album filled with 2-3 hits and a handful of filler tunes. When buying online, that isn't a problem, but again, traditional music shops will need to start thinking very hard now if they don't want to miss the boat altogether. [VP]