Virgin Radio, one of the UK's more popular radio stations, is teaming up with Napster to provide listeners with the UK's first online music chart. The chart, which will be featured every week on a Sunday at 7pm, will count down the twenty most popular tracks that are downloaded from Napster every week.
It's certainly about time that the online music market was properly charted, given the huge impact that it's having on how people acquire their music. We're not sure that charting a tracks popularity from only one service is the best way to do this, but it is a good step forward for the music industry.
Leanne Sharman, Napster vice-president and UK general manager had the following to say about the chart:
As well as hitting our core demographic and having millions of listeners, Virgin Radio enjoys over 1 million unique online visitors a month, making it an ideal brand partner for Napster. Partnerships are key to our approach and Virgin Radio shares the same brand values, target audience and commitment to innovation as Napster.
Virgin Radio CEO, John Pearson, was just as enthusiastic about the chart idea:
This groundbreaking chart with Napster puts Virgin Radio at the innovative edge of the radio industry. Napster are the premier online music partner in the UK and this is the first step in what will become a much broader partnership. Virgin Radio's 4.4m listeners are ahead of the game with online music and this chart is a perfect fit.
Well hopefully this will be a welcome relief from the usual stuff that charts in the UK, but we guess only time will tell. Definitely an interesting move from the two companies involved, and one that will be watched closely by all those in the music industry who may soon be following this lead. We'll keep you posted. |
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