Exploring the Future of the Music Industry: How Billboard is Tackling Chart Manipulation
Billboard is cracking down on how many versions of an album you can release...finally. How is this going to shape the future of the music industry and album rollouts!?
One thing about me? I hate the trend of releasing 10+ digital versions of an album with one extra song to boost your sales. Thankfully, those days are behind us.
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For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an “album person” - someone who prefers a full rounded project VS one-off singles that are made for a hot chart moment with little to no artistry behind it. There are few things that bring me joy the way hearing a well thought out and executed concept through a full body of work (I.E: Melodrama - Lorde, Lemonade - Beyoncé, etc), so when I see an artist release an album I expect it to be a full rounded project. Enter: multiple versions of an album with multiple different songs that now make the original version of an album “incomplete”.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What about deluxe editions?” And to that, I say I encourage them! A deluxe edition feels like an expansion of a project packaged together with a pretty bow on top, which I love! I’m talking about the scavenger hunt some of these artists send us on to collect all of these “exclusive” tracks which ultimately don’t add any substance to an album, and only serve as a bump on the charts. How boring.
Billboard changes chart rules to help curb chart manipulation tactics
Last week Billboard announced some changes to how an album sale will be counted on the charts.
As of February 28th:
Digital albums sold via an artist, label, or other official web store must now be redeemed in order to be chart eligible. In addition, verification using hCaptcha is now required to prevent bots.
Effective Immediately:
Any D2C store with three submissions of illegitimate data within a 12-month period may receive a minimum 90-day reporting suspension.
Physical D2C shipments which fall outside of "established sales trends" will require the reporting store to provide enhanced tracking status along with other info such as geo-location data and if a VPN was used to make the purchase.
As of April 4th
Only four (4) "digital exclusive versions" will be allowed for the life of an album. Includes deluxe versions.
"Digital D2C exclusive versions" cannot be put up for sale during the middle of the first week. Either need to be available for pre-order or held for a later week of release.
Minimum price for all exclusive digital albums has been raised to $7.99.
Minimum price of albums increasing at all retailers:
CD: $7.99, Cassette: $7.99, Vinyl: $15.99
What does this mean!?
Essentially, we’re about to see a whole new approach at album rollouts. With the limit of four digital exclusive (including my beloved deluxe versions), we’re not going to see as many one-off digital drops with one bonus or live song each. We also aren’t going to see anymore mid-week drops like we’ve gotten used to due to them only allowing releases that are put up for pre-order or dropped at a later week of release. I think we’re going to see a lot more digital exclusive options going live with an album announcement VS at a later date.
I also think this means artists are going to go back to having more well thought out deluxe version of their albums like we saw with Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame Monster’ back in the 2000’s (yay!) Major shout-out to Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande for giving us flawlessly executed deluxe editions this year.
Personally, I’m thrilled at these new rules and think this is going to make us album people a lot happier as these artists will hopefully be giving us more well-rounded, complete projects that speak to the artistry and message of an album VS giving us an album with a live version to shoot them up on the chart a bit.
We also yapped about….
Miley Cyrus has begun teasing her new era ‘Something Beautiful’
Something beautiful is coming from Miss Miley Cyrus and I am incredibly ready. Earlier this week she updated all of her website to a black and white silhouette image of herself with the words “SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL” across the top. Matching posters have gone up around NYC and LA and her social icons have been updated as well. We know from her recent interview with Harpers Bazaar her upcoming visual album is titled “Something Beautiful” so it’s safe to say we’re closer to Miley’s new album than we think.
iHeart Radio Awards Recap
I know what you’re thinking: “I thoughts awards season ended with the Oscars?” and you would be correct, but why not have a little fun and celebrate the most-played artists and songs on iHeartRadio!? Monday night the iHeart Radio Awards took place in Las Vegas and had some big name winners: Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, etc. Aside from the typical “Artist of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, and so on, they also honored three ladies with something a little extra special. Lady Gaga received the Innovator Award, presented by TPTH fav Doechii, Mariah Carey received the Icon award (of course didn’t give her speech until checking that her lighting was right) and Taylor Swift received the Tour of the Century award for the Eras Tour.
Bad Bunny strips down for Calvin Klein
Full transparency: I just wanted a reason to talk about Bad Bunny in his underwear on the podcast, and now I get to talk about it again on Substack. 🫦
Carrying on!
Normani is engaged to DK Metcalf
I can hear the bells! Normani and DK Metcalf are officially engaged after three years of dating - yay! In a Vogue exclusive (major) the couple discussed how this was a complete surprise to Normani, as she thought she was going to DK’s sisters surprise party. The engagement was draped in flowers which ties in perfectly with the fact that DK has been sending Normani flowers every Wednesday for months just like in Juwanna Man, a movie they watched together on one of their first dates. Talk about a fairytale ending!
Freakier Friday Trailer is here (!!!!!!)
If you know me, you know that nobody in the world is more excited for Freakier Friday than I am. The trailer is here and that statement still stands true. I’ll let my reaction video to the trailer do the talking:
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And that’s a wrap on this week’s podcast episode! Chat with you guys soon!