DOWNLOADS TO COUNT ON US CHART dotmusic.com By the end of the month, singles purchased as Internet downloads will be incorporated into Billboard's American Hot 100 chart. Soundscan, which tracks record sales through over 17,000 retailers, provides the data from which the most respected chart in the States is compiled. It has forged links with Reciprocal, a digital rights management company with a wealth of Web experience, administering downloads such as Oasis' "Go Let it Out" for Sony. It is undoubtedly the first stage towards establishing digital music as a rightful and credible part of the music industry. "SoundScan reportage is one of the many trappings of legitimate distribution," says Aram Sinnreich, an Internet entertainment analyst with Jupiter Communications. Artists and record companies still entertain an element of fear over the Internet, in part due to concerns it might damage their chances of high chart placings. Now that downloads are beginning to be included in the calculations, there is far more incentive for a single to be released on the Web. Pop pickers should not expect to notice an instant change in chart activity as a result of the inclusion of downloads, however. For a start, the only releases included will be officially sanctioned downloads encoded in secure formats such as Windows Media and Liquid Audio. This discounts the vast majority of Internet music both legal and illegal delivered as MP3 or Real Audio streams. Secondly, Reciprocal are only tracking downloads processed through their own clearing houses; there are several other digital rights management companies and to paint a fair picture SoundScan will ultimately have to compile figures from them all. As usual, the UK is behind America as far as Internet music is concerned. The past few weeks have seen ASCAP and BMI launch their own digital music reporting initiatives but equivalent strategies for Britain are far from complete: we're a long way from seeing an MP3 star on Top of The Pops. comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion [about i-drive] writing index dotmusic index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page

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