Mar 14, 2017
So how's about this? Ed Sheeran gives the world a 16-song album called ÷, and what do the charts do? They give us a top 20 that includes all 16 songs! Fabulous huh?
Well, actually, the domination of the bigger artists is causing indie music to be spat out of the charts like a kid who just ate broccoli for the first time.
How is this happening? The Official Singles Chart began including streaming in their rankings in June 2014, and since then, fewer and fewer new acts have been able to break through. According to BBC, in the first six months of 2016, there were 86 new entries in the UK singles chart. Ten years ago, that figure was 230.
So what does that mean for indie music? Right now there are two thoughts floating amidst industry leaders. One is that the charts' stagnation excludes up-and-coming artists. And the other, is that the quality of newer artists doesn't contend with the bigger, more well-known guys.
More importantly, what does this say about charts in general? Well, perhaps that they're just not that relevant anymore. Dare we say, archaic? The way charts are constructed reward mindless streaming made up of repeat listens rather than the discovery of fresh new music. Let this sink in: ÷ has generated 79,000 album streams.
With all this in mind, maybe it's best we look to blogs as the authorities on new music...
...but we already do that.