the singles chart still matters.

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it's better than it's been in ages the top 10 :

2. kelis - milkshake
4. outkast - hey ya (climbing from 9)
7. franz ferdinand - take me out
10. scissor sisters - cmfrtbly nmb

and to think they're soon going to stop making singles!!

― piscesboy, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

It does matter. Just not to music.

― Stupid (Stupid), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Nor to humanity.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

it matters to ME a lot less than it did, but i have a hard time letting go even though it seems clear i should. perhaps my likely disastrous performance in the Top 40 Predictions game is the final nail that broke the camel's coffin

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

and to think they're soon going to stop making singles!!

when do we seriously expect this to happen - assuming it will?

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

well they've said 'within three years' in the states.
i think, like riaa home invasions, its something that won't happen
over here. but then again...

it's the b.sides i worry about. as if bands dont make enough money, now they get to put out just 10 tracks every two years and everyone's meant to go away happy !

― piscesboy, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't they get to put out one or two tracks every two months? If everyone's downloading music then why on earth would the album format survive?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I never download music so that is not everyone. The album format should survive because the concept of the package - sleeve, sleevenotes, pictures, etc. - is the proverbial baby which is going to be downloaded away with the bathwater. Ultimately everyone will end up with rows of blank CD-Rs which are about as alluring and appealing as rows of blank C90s aren't.

― Phoebe Dinsmore, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

OK by 'album format' I more meant 'simultaneous release of tracks totalling 45-75 minutes of music' rather than the specific object which I'm sure will endure for people who enjoy that format - I just think in a lot of cases what'll happen is the tracks will be released digitally and then compiled later with lovely packaging and lots of DVD-style extras.

This is the second time in half an hour I've been pulled up for my use of "everyone" - point taken! I will rephrase it as "If the most common way of accessing music is via download..." which I think will be the case within 5-10 years.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I have to agree with the Phoebe/Marcello hybrid. Though I do download music and put them on CDR's - they are only temporary until I find the music that I have downloaded.

The singles chart still mattering? I dunno. The quality of singles is rather automaton is it not? There are no longer any classic runs of singles though the chart above is pretty good.

― doomified, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

but with colour priners becoming common and the obligatory 'front cover' and 'back cover' files always available when a new album leaks, what that means is that people are going to pay 13 pounds for the inside of a booklet. now, in the case of, say 'discovery' by daft punk (1 large plain black sheet with white writing and no pictures at all) i'd say that was something of a waste of money.

― piscesboy, Monday, 26 January 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

with the daft punk album i got a neat daft membership card in mine! i dunno - burnt cds always look a bit shoddy don't they?

― doomified, Monday, 26 January 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing is Doomie that the way music hardware is going CDs burnt or unburnt won't be the format of choice - the main missing piece is the industry cracking the secret of how to make money of digital music, once they do that they'll get right behind portable digital audio; stereos with memory stick slots; audiophile file formats etc etc. If I had an iPod I wouldn't even be making CD-Rs except to DJ with, and I don't much care how those look any more than people want a white label to look pretty.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

it would never satisfy the 'ard-core vinyl people.

― doomified, Monday, 26 January 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

No of course not, like I said upthread the old formats won't die out, you still see the odd cassingle in HMV after all.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

jewel cases are horrible - i would like CD-Rs to be the size of Chocolate Digestives but sold in 10" sleeves which you can stick your own artwork on if you can arsed. luckily i have no real power in this matter.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

There seems to be a lot more advertising for singles these days. Not just on telly and billposting, which I'm used to, but proper billboard hoarding things. There's one just up the road from my house, for Kelis' Milkshake, which is a great sight to start the morning with. Kind of implies that UK record companies are willing to throw their weight/advertising budgets behind singles rather than just jacking them in in favour of albums.

― cis (cis), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

are singles charts based purely on sales,or is it an airplay thing too?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i didn't notice TV adverts for singles as much when I was a kid as I see now either - 'Milkshake' had a TV advert and it seems to have paid off handsomely - although it's hard to judge how effective TV ads really are - I can't actually believe someone would've seen the ad and thought 'Oh that sounds cool! I'll buy that' and not already been aware of Kelis or the track - tho I suppose it was designed more as a reminder to people that you can actually buy it now (after months of internet leakage)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

fritz it's sales - which is interesting because without copious airplay on Radio 2 would Gary Jules' 'Mad World' really have been that big a hit?

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

In the UK it's still sales-based but I think it's inevitable that they'll switch to some kind of sales/airplay/download hybrid soon, probably when the contract to run the chart comes up again.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

(I think including airplay in the charts is a bad idea but from a personal POV a switch in format would provide a natural end to my Popular project so I wouldn't complain too much.)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I love my rows of burnt CDRs.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I think those ads mainly are there to remind people that a record's out - the Woolworth's ones on telly, and later HMV and Virgin, were always 'see these two new singles? they're out this week! buy them here!'. The Kelis one makes schoolgirls at the back of the bus start singing it, too.

― cis (cis), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

ha seeing the look of anoyance on people's faces on the train or bus when schoolgirls start singing (or when someone is blasting a dance/rock tune out loud) is one of the few pleasures I have in my life.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

If your life has that few pleasures Julio might I suggest listening to some music with tunes!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Does gang of four meet with Mr.Pop's approval? :-)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:31 (twenty-two years ago)

"the final nail that broke the camel's coffin"

Best. Mixed. Metaphor. Ever.

― Stupid (Stupid), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

why is marcello posting with a female alias?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

The singles chart will be good again when it is completely devoid of hip-hop, dance and R&B.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 26 January 2004 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Geir does that reply in just about every thread ever. So why does it still annoy me? aaarghhh.

― argh, Monday, 26 January 2004 22:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Cos he thinks we don't know he thinks it?

Cos maybe he thinks we haven't read it in a thousand newspaper letter pages, bad messageboards, music newsgroups?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:02 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a gag, duh brain. work it out.

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

you're a gag. a crap one. shouldn't you be off fucking rik witter or whichever shite band you're covering these days?

"IT'S GOING TO BE SO BIG IT'LL BE PLANETARY BABY, GET ME VERNON KAYE ON LINE ONE".

Hack.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

ha ha ha.

like i care?? yer the duh brain who can't figure out a simple gag.

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

and didnt you already use that gag already. sigh. the bitchy repartee always fades, don't it? makes me kind of sad. : - (

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

you'll be sadder when you realise you're working with alfie and starsailor for the next 20 years

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

no sting. AT ALL. sigh. : - ( try again.

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

no sting? you tried to interview sting now!

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

o.k. that was funny. like 'friends' funny. but the bitch ain't back. sigh. and i have to go without being properly insulted. not like ilx back in the day. : - (

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

try a casual glance in the mirror, assessment of life's work etc

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 26 January 2004 23:27 (twenty-two years ago)

nope. not that biting. kind of 'typicalish'. sigh. again.

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i can wait all night until you can think of something witty. or even biting. i'll take biting at this point. *shrugs shoulders*

― doomies, Monday, 26 January 2004 23:31 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

So how's this done in the States? Does anyone buy singles here? Is the Hot 100 dictated strickly by radio play, which seems ridiculously untrustworthy if you know how the airwaves work in this steak'n'eggs republic?

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Monday, 7 February 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Not "strictly," but since 1998, mostly. (I mean, I think Marcello rightly pointed out that sales can't count for that much if the Bright Eyes singles that landed at #1 and #2 on the Sales chart didn't even crack the Hot 100 at all.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 7 February 2005 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

nine years pass...

11 years later here's Peter 'Popjustice' Robinson on how the charts may be 'losing the battle to reinvent themselves'
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/15/from-uptown-funk-to-all-about-that-bass-what-makes-a-hit-count-in-2015?CMP=share_btn_tw

i'm sure there was a definitive 'UK charts' thread but damned if i can find it as there's so many.

― piscesx, Sunday, 18 January 2015 23:11 (eleven years ago)

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