"unfair advantage"

D84

Well-known member
Is this some weird kind of publicity stunt/scam?

Aren't the charts already rigged - to a degree - by majors using their "unfair advantage" of large expense accounts, capital etc to buy up their own releases whole-sale to register chart sales?
 

swears

preppy-kei
Didn't "Discovery" by Daft Punk have similar problems because of the "Daft Card" website access thing?
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
By the logic of that article, isn't releasing anything in multi-format with different 'features' (bonus tracks etc) on each format 'unfair advantage'? Like almost every single released these days?
 

john eden

male pale and stale
By the logic of that article, isn't releasing anything in multi-format with different 'features' (bonus tracks etc) on each format 'unfair advantage'? Like almost every single released these days?

I think there are limits to it though - didn't this come about because of Frankie Goes To Hollywood releasing about 18 different versions of "Two Tribes" or something? Or was it groups like Duran Duran releasing different 7" with photos of each band member on them?

Plus there was someone like either the Orb or Orbital who was disqualified because their single was actually as long as an LP?

Didn't Colourbox or someone go the whole hog and giveaway a whole album with one of their singles?

Tune in next week and discover the answer to none of these questions!
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Yeah that was the Orb - Blue Room"
I think it was one second shy of forty minutes which, at that time, was what the chart compilers defined as the point when single changed to album. They've changed it now to twenty minutes or so.
Regarding the free gift thing, this comes up every now and again and various people have fallen victim to it. Does it really matter to Beck if his records are in the charts, surely he makes the money from sales not being in the hot 100?
 

hint

party record with a siren
Does it really matter to Beck if his records are in the charts, surely he makes the money from sales not being in the hot 100?

I don't know about Beck, but the label will certainly be pissed off.

Most supermarkets, for example, will only stock the top 20 chart CDs. Other shops will also give much higher profile rack space to chart titles and will order more copies in order to fill that space.

These rules are actually in place to protect the smaller labels and artists, who wouldn't be able to pump lots of money into extra packaging and free gifts for each release. It's an attempt to keep the playing field as level as possible when it comes to chart placement.
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
I saw Prince on his Musicology tour, and they gave out free copies of the CD to each customer at the show...and later I read that this was done to boost "sales" figures, as each CD (by virtue of being "given" to a "paying" customer) was considered to be a sold item...

quite similar to the "dump-and-pump" strategy that newspapers use to boost readership claims...
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
It's an attempt to keep the playing field as level as possible when it comes to chart placement.
Yeah, I think it's quite fair. Like I said, it's happened before so people (should) have some idea of what they can get away with. If they do do something like that you've got to assume that whoever made the decision to go ahead with it (presumably not the label) were somewhat blase about being in the chart.
 

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
Why punish Beck and his label for doing something that the recording industry so dearly needs: reasons for people to back to buying cds.

Instead of trying to boost numbers by people buying multiple copies, it seems hes giving people a reason to actually buy the cd.

i think in a while this could be the only way cds are released: with bonus dvds, interactive artwork, or other incentives.
 

mms

sometimes
yes there are a whole bunch of rules for chart eligbility, singles and albums. you have to register singles and albums for them to be chart eligible with the chart company
http://www.theofficialcharts.com/faq.php

check that site for the lodown.

the rules for digital sales are odder, you have digital bundles etc which are a stranger territory.

it's not really fair to disqualify it on aesthetics but i guess they imagine people might buy multiple copies because of the artwork.

henry s > i don't belive the prince musicology thing as each copy would have to be registered thru a registering machine in order for it to qualify as a legitimate sale, its a weird situation in the uk as most indie stores don't have registering machines, its big chains that have these, so alot of would be chart elligible sales go unaccounted for.
 

boomnoise

♫
surely the simple fact that different record companies have different marketing budgets, from the vast to the modest to the nonexistant, makes the majority of the records in the charts 'illeligble' on the grounds of 'unfair competition'.

what are they trying to preserve?
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
mms: I'm pretty naive about how the music biz works re: how sales figures are tallied...could it be possible that free copies of a given CD are pre-registered?...(experienced folk out there are rolling their eyes just now, to be sure)...anyhoo, here's an excerpt from an article I read some time ago, with an allusion to this practice:

Party Up

Does the triumphant return of Prince say more about him or his audience?

By Jeff Chang

IS IT too early to declare 2004 Prince's year? He opened the Grammys in fine form and then turned in an even more buzz-worthy performance upon being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. The following month, he dropped a new album, Musicology, to strong critical acclaim. The album is still in the Top 10, on its way toward double-platinum, despite, natch, controversy (some complained when free CDs given away at concerts were tallied in the sales total).


not meaning to derail this discussion, of course...
 

mms

sometimes
mms: I'm pretty naive about how the music biz works re: how sales figures are tallied...could it be possible that free copies of a given CD are pre-registered?...(experienced folk out there are rolling their eyes just now, to be sure)...anyhoo, here's an excerpt from an article I read some time ago, with an allusion to this practice:

Party Up

Does the triumphant return of Prince say more about him or his audience?

By Jeff Chang

IS IT too early to declare 2004 Prince's year? He opened the Grammys in fine form and then turned in an even more buzz-worthy performance upon being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. The following month, he dropped a new album, Musicology, to strong critical acclaim. The album is still in the Top 10, on its way toward double-platinum, despite, natch, controversy (some complained when free CDs given away at concerts were tallied in the sales total).


not meaning to derail this discussion, of course...

yeah just saying that's probably not true whatever mr chang says.
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
mms: I'm pretty naive about how the music biz works re: how sales figures are tallied...could it be possible that free copies of a given CD are pre-registered?...(experienced folk out there are rolling their eyes just now, to be sure):

As far as I know, free promotional copies are not considered part of sales and the label will add a fraction of the "expense" as part of the deductible from the artists' royalties.
 
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