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Germany puts streaming data into its singles chart
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 8 January 2014
The German record industry is adding streaming data into it’s official singles chart, following the lead of music chart makers in the US, Sweden and Norway.
Though only stats from subscription-based streaming services will be included, initially at least, in the overall singles top 100, with a stream being counted as a listen once at least 31 seconds of a track has been consumed.
A separate streaming chart is also being launched that will include freemium streaming data as well, which would usually mean all-important YouTube stats being included in the mix, except of course the Google-owned video site isn’t a music hub in Germany because of those wacky GEMA guys and their tendency to scream “Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein”.
Confirming that streaming data will now be mixed into the country’s charts, the MD of Germany’s record industry trade group BVMI Dr Florian Drucke told CMU: “The growth of streaming is one of the most significant trends in music, and in recognition of this fact, and to more accurately represent the success of tracks across all platforms, we will now include streaming data in our Top 100 singles chart. This will improve the accuracy of the German charts in assessing the success of artists and bands”.
The move may increase demands in the UK for streaming stats to be incorporated into the main singles chart over here as well, the British digital music market being somewhat more mature than that in Germany (not least because streaming services were held back there somewhat by the aforementioned “NO!!!!!!!” policy of collecting society GEMA).
The UK’s Official Charts Company has so far resisted putting streaming stats into its main singles chart, although it does process streaming data for a standalone countdown. Putting streams into the main singles list probably wouldn’t vastly change the order in which tracks appear in any one week, though in the year-end charts it was interesting that while the main charts were dominated by urban, pop and EDM acts, the top two most streamed artists of the year were indie rock bands Arctic Monkeys and Bastille.
