(Kara)OK(e) Computer
Yesterday - and only 8 months late - a new chart was announced which lists the top songs of 2007. This would not necessarily be all that interesting, seeing as we're heading into the latter part of 2008 now, but this is a chart of songs which have been uploaded to licensed websites like YouTube and Bebo, or downloaded from sites like iTunes, and includes every possible performance of each song, including some of YOURS...
The organisation who have compiled these figures is the MCPS-PRS Alliance. They are the people who collect royalties on behalf of songwriters and composers, which can come from businesses who play music in the office, bars who have bands performing, radio stations, TV channels...or any public arena where music is being used as entertainment.
This also includes the internet, and an agreement has been struck between the Alliance and YouTube to for royalties to be paid on all music videos. These include the official promo and live music videos, put there by record companies, official videos uploaded by fans, home-made videos which use the original track, home-made videos in which people cover the original track...in fact, every conceivable performance of a song which has been made into a video clip and put up on YouTube. Even this one!
So, if you've ever put your webcam on and had a quick sing-song to your favourite song, so that Fearne and Reggie might play it on the Request Show, or showed off your impressive shredding skills on something by Dragonforce, or even performed an intricate a cappella cover version of 'Something Kinda Oooh' in nine-part harmony, YouTube will have made a payment to the songwriters on your behalf. Isn't that nice?
Andrew Shaw, Managing Director of Broadcast and Online at the Alliance, said: "Hairbrush divas are not only helping to generate royalties for the writers of their favourite music but could also prove to have the X Factor themselves and be our stars of tomorrow."
(If I can interject for a second here, I have never seen so much pressure being put on the word 'could' in all my life. That's 'could' as in "yes, it's theoretically possible that the Isle of Wight COULD be lifted up out of the sea, using a lolly-stick as a lever". But still, it's an encouraging thing to say.)
A spokesperson for the PRS explained how much of a headache it can be getting reliable information out of a website which is edited by millions of people.
"YouTube hosts over 10 million videos that potentially contain our members' music. PRS data systems have analysed over 1.5 billion separate views of YouTube videos in order to identify that music."
Getting the right information about the right clip is something which has had to be tackled using some of the finest minds known to science. That's how seriously people are taking this!
The PRS has developed a three-stage system to work out which songwriter is owed what:
Step 1 - Clips with the right data are processed automatically.
Step 2 - Clips with the wrong data are processed manually (although that's a massive job)
Step 3 - All the other clips are processed using a statistical model created by Cambridge University boffins, with clipboards.
And, having finally got the figures, the only sensible thing to do is make a chart out of them (suddenly that 8-month wait starts to make a LOT of sense, right?). And, in time-honoured ChartBlog fashion, here's the Top 5, together with some of my favourite cover versions.
High fives all round!
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No.5: 'Beautiful Girl' - Sean Kingston
(Performed by Kevin Bazinet)
Zac? Zac Efron? Is that you?
No.4: 'Umbrella' - Rihanna
(Performed by Thunder Hammer)
"Hey dad? What are you and Uncle Jim doing in the spare room? And can I have my Guitar Hero back?"
No.3: 'Apologize' - Timbaland & OneRepublic
(Performed by Andrew and Mojo)
Here we see two young men having a fiddle in their bedroom. What?
No.2: 'Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)' - Soulja Boy Tellem
(Performed by Kaylen and Geraldine)
These two are so cute it comes as a total shock to realise they've left one of the swears in. I do apologise. Their mums will be SO embarrassed.
No.1: 'Bleeding Love' - Leona Lewis
(Performed by Flipx123...I think! 6% of all analysed YouTube music clips are of this song. OneRepublic must be delighted!)
Yes, yes, great singing and all. WHAT is that dog doing?
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Oh, before you ask, I did enquire whether there are any performance royalties due, seeing as you went to all the trouble of filming yourself and all, and maybe you want to put down a deposit on a diamond-encrusted jelly spoon.
Here's what the PRS said: "Amateur performers wouldn't be entitled to a royalty payment from the PRS - but maybe one day, if they were spotted and signed by a record company, that could all change."
Oh, and then I asked them this...
I have a camera and a microphone. What song to the PRS want to perform for me?
"It would be wrong to single out an individual work from the 10 million pieces of music that we represent; we wouldn't want to upset any of our 60,000 songwriters by choosing any one above another. Having said that, we are all rather partial to a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody. We'd particularly like to perform it in true Spinal Tap style, with the volume turned up to eleven..."
So there you have it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Portsmouth to buy a Magnum.
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PS: More Radio 1 people larking about with pop videos HERE....
For more information on song-writing, royalties, and getting royalties from song-writing, ask the Alliance:
YouTube is here:
Comment number 1.
At 14th Aug 2008, jmcrae92 wrote:Simon Cowell said he is gonna find Leona No.2 in this year's X-Factor... "Simon! I think we've found one, singing one of Leona's songs too." lol
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