In the early 90s, Harry Enfield did a Smashie and Nicey sketch where they were doing the chart rundown of a new "real time" Top 40, where songs moved up and down as more copies of the records were bought (or returned). The charts this week have felt a bit like this, as the media reported daily on who was leading in the "battle" for the Christmas number one - one minute it was Joe McElderry, and the next, Rage Against the Machine in a struggle between Simon Cowell's manufactured, predictable pop vs anti-establishment rock and roll (albeit both signed to the same record label).
Personally I don't blame Simon Cowell for the sorry state of recent Christmas number ones; he's not the one BUYING the records, he just puts it out there. They are bought by people who presumably have free will, and like the music and/or the "artist". It's like blaming McDonalds for the increase in obesity - they create the temptation, but people choose to eat there.
The key problem for the mainstream music industry over the last decade has been the growth in illegal downloading. The problem was compounded by the industry being slow to adapt to the way their customers wanted to buy and consume music, and then spending countless hours and pounds on suing them. The very nature of the technology makes it trivial to instantly create a perfect duplicate of a track and distribute it around the world in seconds, and the music industry has struggled to find a way of differentiating their offering (in marketing speak) of a "legal" file from an "illegal" one. BUT has the answer been under their noses the whole time? The key difference is that the legal one counts towards the charts.
The campaign for this year's Christmas number one has lead to a massive numbers of purchases - selling nearly a million downloads between them during the week. And most of those purchases haven't been because the buyer loved the song, but as a vote in a massive popularity contest. In the age of hundreds of DAB stations, an infinite number of internet radio stations, and the ability to listen instantly to virtually any song ever recorded on Spotify, "owning" a record has lost the significance it once did. With Shazam and iTunes on an iPhone, I can hear a song playing while in a pub, identify who it is and buy it there and then, all within a minute - and it counts towards the charts. It's a million miles away from popping down to Woolworths with your pocket money on a Saturday.
Last week's "battle" has reminded people how exciting the charts should be - reigniting memories of Blur vs Oasis, or even Pulp vs Robson & Jerome (another Cowell creation, who kept Common People off the number one slot in 1995). The music industry should embrace the charts in the Web 2.0 world - it taps in to so much of the best bits of social media; tribes, recommendations, voting, campaigning, etc.
Amazon were selling the Rage Against the Machine download for just 29p - making the protest vote cheaper than actually voting by phone in the X-Factor proper. Which leads me to my great money-making idea for Simon Cowell (and the British record industry): for the next series of the X-Factor, after every week's show release every contestant's performances as a single download. Instead of phone votes, measure popularity on single sales. Simon Cowell and his record company wins (they sells more records); ITV wins (if they open up their own chart-eligible music download store); the music industry wins (people are excited about the charts and buying legal downloads) and the consumer wins (they get an MP3 of their favourite song, rather than just an extra line on their phone bill).
This may be playing with fire - it could give X-Factor contestants not just the Christmas number one, but control of the Top 10 of the charts for the three months leading up to it too. On the other hand, it effectively open sources the X-Factor, instead of the current walled garden. Any other band can compete in the same weekly competition as Cowell's - for example Queen fans appalled by the contestants' covers can vote the originals up the charts. Bands who want to make a statement can organise their fans to buy all in the same week (doing a "Rage"). Manipulating the charts? Maybe. Making them more exciting? Definitely!
PS - Mr Cowell, if you take this up, I want 10%
Write a comment