The Charts.. its not a popularity contest!

We have talked about the Top 25 and Top 15 on KB Radio and KB Country Radio respectively,  but it seems that there is still a number of people who get upset with the chart because they don’t grasp how it works.  Yes I said it, the problem is lack of understanding on their part.  Hopefully this doesn’t offend anyone, but than again I would rather say it like it is than sugar coat some bullshit kind of explanation in an attempt to explain.

The charts are very simple;  they are based around the older, standard versions of charts where new music is released, and it breaks onto the chart and tries to climb as high as possible.  Back in the day, they used things like requests, record sales, and referenced other stations playing the same format to calculate the chart.  Things are different now, and the charts you find on Billboard etc, are nothing like they used to be.  That is fine, the same as other stations that strictly do a weekly most votes kind of chart, and your Top 10 can be completely different week to week.   the point is that there are different variations, but in each case if you want to play the game, you should really understand the rules. 

We attempt to bring the Top 25 or 15 songs that are most popular each week, using fan voting as a jumping off point.  But don’t let that fool you.  This is not a popularity system,  and if you finish in 1st week after week, with 200 more votes than the artist in second, the vote totals mean nothing.  Finishing position has a point assignment,  but from there,  just because you have more fans voting doesn’t mean your music will be sitting at the top of the chart and staying there. 

Let me explain it this way.  I can give you right now 25 artist or band names that have incredible fans who vote like crazy.  But if that was the only factor those 25 would be the top 25 all the time.  The listeners don’t want the same songs every single week.  Everyone involved, loves music.  But think about this, people get tired of songs.  Sometimes they just need a break from them but they have favorites, and they change.  So why would you want to push one song week after week at them.  Now let me clarify that statement.  Promote and push, but understand when its time to move on to your next track. 

This is why the calculations and points assigned put the onus on the fans to vote, however, that is not the only thing.  I won’t sugarcoat this, we don’t want the same song on the Top 25 for 52 weeks. Its the same reason we don’t want multiple songs by artists or bands on the chart.  If its strictly voting, and we had 2, 3 , 5 songs on the voting list by one artist, they could theoretically control the top of the charts with their music.   I built KB Radio around how things used to be, and the chart is no different.  Yes there have been anomaly’s over the years with songs that stayed on the charts (Billboard) longer than normal.  But lets not try to compare anything here to those famous tracks.  I don’t have a number that says after so many weeks a song is gone, there are a lot of factors that go into the chart, and its not based on one persons opinions. 

 

I want people to remember as well, I am running a radio station (4 actually) and we strive to have as many listeners as possible. The Charts are designed to promote the music and the radio station.  To do this I want the best sound possible, and we work very hard on many levels to try and achieve this, and improve on this.  One of our draws is fresh new Indie Music.  So take your music, and push like hell.  Ride it up the chart, and when its peaked let fall gracefully.  Songs that make it to the top spots on the charts stay on  the station permanently.  So it will always be here.  But if a song starts to get tired sounding, and listeners start saying, how long are you going to keep playing this track, I have to believe its been too long.

The final thought is that this isn’t driven by any one person or comment.  So if you are concerned I am singling you out or something like that, not at all.  Its a blog I have avoided and tried to do in a different manner previously, but maybe I just wasn’t clear enough, or maybe people don’t read or care?  lol  

I am always open to questions and willing to explain any of the system in more detail if required or asked.

 

al