Gennaro Castaldo watch: Honey to the bee

Chris Moyle's droll little stunt - pushing Billie's Honey To The Bee back up to 17 as a "test" of the download rules - has the papers demanding the perspective of HMV's Gennaro Castaldo on this strange new world:

Gennaro Castaldo at HMV said that Piper's performance showed how it is now "so easy" for fan groups or the media to propel a song up the charts.

He said: "In the past the record companies were very jealous of making sure that the releases were implemented in a very clear and transparent way.

"It's further evidence of how bit by bit the charts are going to broaden out."

HMV have recently dropped the singles charts from their store, so it's not surprising that he's sniffy about how it's "easy" now to just mock the chart, but it is interesting to see him almost admit that the charts used to be little more than the promotional playthings of the record companies.

But "transparent"? Only if Louis Walsh's boot was transparent. Only if the singles used to have little labels saying "provided free by the record company" stuck on them, surely?

Meanwhile, we're worried that Chris Moyles is able to drift a single up to the top twenty on his say-so alone. That's too much power in one set of hands. When it's his hands, of course - he thinks Honey To The Bee is a "hilarious" choice of single to download, which probably says it all.

The key question: if Top of the Pops had still been going, would Billie have done the right thing and turned up to perform?

music gennaro castaldo chris moyles billie piper