I'd say streaming doesn't make as much of an impact on chart placings on Billboard as video views seems to have done, so this isn't such a dramatic change.
Inevitable and necessary if the charts are to remain something that represents the popularity of songs and artists.
This is a good thing, Streaming is so huge now it would be foolish not to take it into account. Im glad its not video plays and airplay that are being added, thats a whole other level of no-no. I was following this on twitter the other night, they did mention R1 have moved on from Madonna as most of her fans are over 30 now and not their target audience anymore, which kinda sets a worrying trend for artists of similar fanbases.
Spotify and other music streaming services I'm okay with as I know loads of people who don't actually have a proper music collection outside of it, so I guess if it helps represent them a little better as fellow consumers it's a good thing. When radio and Vevo get involved, however.
Like others have said, Spotify and the like being counted is fine by me but taking Youtube/Vevo ("Viral, lol") and radio (the politics of it all) into account would be disastrous.
Good news. YouTube really shouldn't be included or we'll have all sorts of viral shit clogging up the charts.
My only fear is that it might stagnate the chart. According to the OCC's Official Streaming Chart, 'Pompeii' is still in the top 20....
One person can play 'Stop' by the Spice Girls 2,964 times in one week. #justsayin Edit: Scrap that. Couldn't you just move the dial to the end of the song and it would count as a play?
And I fear they are stagnated enough already!I'm so skipping to the end of Arms Of Loren 44,812 times so that E'voke can rightfully claim that Top 10 hit that never was. Part of me is sad that the charts won't actually be proper sales anymore, but then again we are away from the age of a physical and I guess there is little difference between downloading and "owning" an MP3 and paying for the privilege to stream one.
