{"id":10041,"date":"2012-10-13T02:04:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T02:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=10041"},"modified":"2012-10-13T02:04:27","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T02:04:27","slug":"country-fans-angry-with-billboards-new-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/13\/country-fans-angry-with-billboards-new-chart\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Fans Angry With Billboard\u2019s New Chart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nCountry fans angry with Billboard\u2019s new chart computing methodology have begun an online petition to convince the publication to change its mind. A post at Change.org<\/a> argues that the changes announced this week favor artists with crossover success (Taylor Swift<\/a>, Lady Antebellum<\/a>), while making it even more difficult to break a new artist.
\nBillboard announced<\/a> that starting Thursday (Oct. 11), its country airplay charts would no longer be based solely on country radio airplay (R&B\/Hip-hop and Latin music charts were also affected). Instead, the chart would include airplay on other formats, as well as streaming sites like Spotify, plus digital sales data in determining the rankings.
\nFor those who don\u2019t quite understand how the country singles charts work (or used to work, in the case of Billboard), this article explains it<\/a> fairly well. The effects of the changes were immediate. Swift, who has been releasing new songs leading up to the release of her new album, now has the No. 1 and No. 2 song in country music with \u2018We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together\u2019 and \u2018Red\u2019 respectively. The latter has not been released to radio.
\nJason Scott\u2019s online petition quotes an opinion piece written by Kevin John Coyne at Country Universe<\/a>. His argument against the changes reflects what many country fans who oppose the move believe:<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all the new methods of delivery, country music\u2019s primary method of distribution remains the radio. It may be the only thing left that is identifiably \u201ccountry\u201d in mainstream music. The vast majority of country artists do not pursue the pop market in lieu of the country market. At most, they pursue pop as well as country, but usually wait until the song\u2019s a hit at their home format first.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bill Werde, the Editorial Director at Billboard, addressed<\/a> some of the criticism on Thursday, saying the new methodology reflects the modern music model more accurately:<\/p>\n

\u201cBasing the primary chart on radio play only feels out of touch with what\u2019s actually happening with music. The fans have no direct voice with radio. It\u2019s a push format \u2014 someone else decides what you\u2019re going to listen to, and with what frequency. Are those of you upset about this rule change suggesting that what fans are streaming on Spotify or buying at iTunes shouldn\u2019t count? Fans have the power today \u2014 more than they have ever had in the history of the recorded music business \u2014 and these chart changes honor that reality, above all else.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The petition had 62 supporters as of 4:30PM ET on Friday (Oct. 12). It says it needs 38 more, although it\u2019s not clear what will happen when it gets 100 supporters. There is no indication from Billboard that another change is being considered or will be considered despite the protest.
\nView the full Billboard country chart here<\/a> and the Mediabase chart (the other major chart service, one which relies solely on country radio airplay) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Country fans angry with Billboard\u2019s new chart computing methodology have begun an online petition to convince the publication to change its mind. A post at Change.org argues that the changes announced this week favor artists with crossover success (Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum), while making it even more difficult to break a new artist. Billboard announced that starting Thursday (Oct. 11), its country airplay charts would no longer be based solely on country radio airplay (R&B\/Hip-hop and Latin music charts were also affected). Instead, the chart would include airplay on other<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}