Ratios should be determined by economic value (be it 150 streams = 1 sale or 100 streams = 1 sale), but it's even more concerning and urgent when we see just how popular services like Spotify are and yet the OCC under pressure from unhappy older acts have to readjust their formula to dilute streaming or insert caps per user per day on how many streams qualify. The comparison is simply by impact, just like you can do by comparing physical sales to streams. Radio is not considered part of charts like the ones in the UK because it's considered an inactive from of engagement this is irrelevant to the comparison because on-Demand streaming is already considered an active form of engagement. The comparison between Radio 1 and Spotify is simply one comparing impact. Period.Īt the end of the day, it's a comparison to the leading service in one form of consumption to another.
It's time to recognize the presence of streaming in every music industry. Spotify is outpacing and outgrowing Radio 1. Radio 1 is just one of many radio stations. Spotify is just one of many streaming services. If people wants to dig their heads in the sand and ignore that, that's on them. We will reach a time where the main form of music consumption flat out is streaming. media staples like Radio 1) shows its immediacy and growth. That in itself already justifies its inclusion in charts like the UK's, but emphasizing just how much it's used and engaged with by the public (vs. There's a reason it's considered on-demand streaming by the industry at large despite playlists while things like Pandora or other online radio services are not considered on-demand streaming.
It's already considered an active form of engagement in the music industry. I'm not sure claiming you're receiving snark is the best thing to do when you've started off this engagement by trying to reframe the argument into something else and then get defensive when it's returned back to what was originally said.Īt the end of the day, Spotify's rising active users is important - and comparing its engagement to one of the most popular forms of consumption of media flat out is key and I would just as much compare it to even something like the active use of the BBC media player despite being a different medium if it showed impact - because it dispels this myth that streaming is not the future. There's no if's, and's, or but's - streaming will inevitably outgrow and become more popular than downloads and there will be a time where more stream-equivalent-sales are greater in number than downloads, so supporting a downloads-only chart (or diluting the influence of streams) means you actually want a chart that's only determined "by the same few people" and not the majority of the music-consuming public.Ĭlick to expand.And yet the post both of you replied to is my post on how people still want streaming diluted from or even straight-up excluded from charts even when it's proven how it's a massively-consumed form of active engagement and to ignore it only skews the accuracy of the charts. Is it a highly popular and used form of music consumption? YesĪnd it's already challenging digital sales in fulfilling both of those criteria. Is Spotify an active form of music consumption? Yes Spotify is reporting higher unique individual active monthly users than one of the most popular radio stations (ie: a popular form of consuming music) in the entire UK. Click to expand.Because people who claim streaming shouldn't be included in charts - despite being an active form of music consumption - claim it's just "the same few people deciding the charts by listening to the same songs over and over" ("I have never heard One Dance!!!! Why isn't Steps #1 on the singles chart?").Īnd we see that'a just not true.