REAL & PHONY CHARTS RADIO & SALES
INDEPENDENT VS DISTRIBUTED LABELS

Renita Marie du Bourbon,
International Industrial Review,
Investigative Reporter,
Paris, France.

Back in the Distant Dawn of Printed Piano Forte and Parlor Sing-A-Long Folios the only push to find out which tunes were the most popular were concerned with making Player Piano Rolls! The advent of sound recordings changed all that in such a rush it took nearly FORTY years to make a dent of any consequence. But once RADIO came on the air at regular hours, KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began to explore unknown territory on an expedition that is still in the field and a long way from final report!

Hard on the heels of mass-reach capability and for-profit use royalties law suits by ASCAP came the 'necessity' of a 'chart' of some sort to dictate which of the many records were really the most popular.

Where they were 'the most popular', radio or sales, was never made clear to the General Public and still isn't clear today. And by deliberate design!

The data used to make such determinations was reputedly gathered from those who either aired the record or sold them across the counter. The two original sources: 1) radio reporting the number of listener requests and 2) reported over the counter sales; instantly became corrupted and no mercy was shown on anyone who dared 'question' the process!

Today, as always money still talks and the charts published by Billboard' SoundSCAM, Radio & Records, and on/off Gavin [UPDATE: Gavin has folded! Another casualty of TRUTH in a hype-is-everything market!] are as phony as last year's Second Coming of Jesus Christ! Anyone can 'chart' in any of the three by buying enough advertising, some of which might even get printed, or making sure that 'advertising' you bought is via Clear Channel's scam broadcast-vs-venue operation.

As of this writing, Radio & Records has been reputedly trying to clean up their act, but until they accept and fairly list Independent Labels their efforts remain as phony as Billboard and Cashbox always have been. Billboard's SoundSCAM con-job notwithstanding.

Gavin only 'charts' labels with "Gavin Membership" and that's why Vandor Music Group's (VMG) many successes are conspicuous by their absence. Vandor refuses to be black-mailed by anybody, regardless of the costs. As one of the eight General Licensers, they have no qualms about telling anybody "to go to hell" and especially when their integrity is in question.

But Independent Labels must suffer the 'major label' myths and delusions, and especially when it comes to real and phony charts and direct record sales. Getting a chart record is easy enough, but selling records is an entirely different nightmare! There are only NINE General Licensers who have world wide distribution, and they sell virtually all the records found on legitimate Record Store shelves. Generally speaking, the Label is either distributed by one of these NINE, or it's dead.

However, the major difference between General Licensers is whether or not their 'budget' includes stocking the shelves with product whether it sells or not on the Executive Producer's nickel (Yes, that part is GREEN for a reason!) and any high lifestyle enjoyed by the General Licenser or 'label' Executive, swimming pools, etcetera.

Ever since France's Polygram (Phonogram) bought out America's Mercury Record Corporation, following their grand bust attempting to take over the Black Music market from MoTown without Black advice or input, the "I" word (Independent) has been a label curse throughout the Industry.

Most Americans had never heard of Polygram and incorrectly supposed it to be some Johnny-come-Lately without so much as a grain of an idea as to the American Music Scene or the "in" musical tastes. They were wrong on both accounts. Those who insisted Mercury's near demise in a hail of bad blood from the Black Community, and sale to some 'out of towners' would lower the label to that of any other backyard studio record company, were wrong about that too. Even so, the "I" word was in the world to stay.

That Mercury and it's second label, Smash, had impressive track records from Patti "Tennessee Waltz" Page to Matt "I'm Movin' On" Lucas, was neither overlooked nor ignored by the Execs at Poly, and they spared no effort to return the label to its glory of yesteryear. However, the Kiss of Death identity of "Indie" stuck to Mercury like hot glue and many recordings were re-released under the Polygram and Polydor labels to avoid the stigma.

Mercury was one of those 'major' labels of the 'direct promotion' scam to eliminate all 'indies', instituting buy back of unsaleable copies from distributors, blackmailing 'chart' mags into retaining the TOP 40 positions (thus the so-called "Top 40") for that Elite Few (leaving the remainder for whoever could afford to buy the bottom sixty (to avoid Anti-Trust litigation), and deliberately perpetuating the myth that 'talent' is the only way to 'be discovered'. With phony 'charts' the only charts, those so-called 'majors' had it their way for years.

However, the truth is: there is no such thing as an Independent or Major label! There are only distributed and non-distributed labels! And until the so-called industry recognized 'charts' list independents, distributed or not, on an equal and fair basis with the so-called majors: there won't be such a thing as an honest chart either!

That Billboard was forced to switch to a 'sales tracking' system called SoundScan (SoundSCAM would be more appropriate!) didn't raise their credibility one iota. Their 'sales tracking' is as phony as ever. They still dictate to their 'reporting' stations what they can and cannot air, and manipulate the reported sales from outlets and those from the majors to make any given record show up anywhere they want it in the so-called 'charts' in direct proportion to 'advertising' purchases.

Clear Channel's playlist smacks of conflict of interest just like reported Time-Warner's former ownership of Billboard and Warner Brothers Records through various corporate layers. (Billboard being currently owned by VNU does not raise their credibility one iota either.) Under such advertising income duress, guess who gets their choice of any chart slot they want? And, the integrity of any chart published by owners of a label found therein is then and there suspect.

Since it's common knowledge that all original ideas, musical and technical, are out of the Independent Label camp and only exploited by the so-called 'majors': it is high time for the Industry-At-Large to stop all this "Billboard/R&R/Gavin-'only' nonsense and get back in touch with the market beginning with the Broadcasters!

Perhaps if we did that, talent would again mean something. Even if not, the honesty would be refreshing.

And that's something the Industry has seen far too little of in this entire Century: plain old honesty.