TAKING AIM AT THE NEW CHART

This week's chart battle makes Blur versus Oasis look like a catty slap bitchfest. (Oh, it was, wasn't it?) indie representative group AIM are calling on the government to ban this week's 40 outright.

They're still smarting over the way the downloads are being integrated into the chart and are calling on the Office of Fair Trading to step in and crush the listings. Alison Wenham, Chief Exec explains why:

"There are serious commercial consequences of publishing a chart which is a barometer of public taste, which guides playlists, television, scheduling, compilation activity, and international licensing, and which disadvantages the independent sector."

It's interetsing that the Official Chart Company are keeping a ghost chart without downloads in, presumably just in case. It means they're able to reject claims that indies will be hurt by the new format:

"Midweek figures indicate that the combined chart for this Sunday is likely to figure eight titles from independent labels, two more than would appear in a physical format Top 40," the OCC said in a statement.

It's not clear if that includes anything that Gut are trying to cheat into the chart to prove the weakness of the new system.

We're not expecting the OFT to crush the chart, though.

What does concern us - as someone posted in the No Rock comments box earlier this week - is the claims that the Official Chart Company are somehow able to "check credit card numbers" to avoid fraud. Even if there wasn't a huge data and privacy question over why the OCC should be allowed access to credit card numbers of people buying downloads, it's surely unacceptable from a security point of view for a third party to be allowed to access this supposedly secure data? And, erm, what's to stop people buying those Napster prepay cards to purchase downloads and thereby hide the purchaser's details altogether?

music chart downloads privacy