Part 1: Sales , cheating and what not to do

Hey guys, i am going to do a videg blog answering any specific questions you have on this, so drop me an email at lee@dittomusic.com and ill do my best to answer everything for you.

One of the questions that artists ask us on a daily basis is how can i get my song into the charts? Can unsigned artists get their music into the UK top 40 singles charts?

When we released Koopas ‘Blag Steal and Borrow’ in 2007, they sold just over 4000 and made it to number 31. They were the first unsigned artist to get into the UK singles chart on downloads. Since then there has been many reports of the death of the CD single, when in fact they are actually selling more now than ever before, well on paper anyway!

Up until January 2007 chart eligibility was still governed by physical release dates and you HAD to have a physical release within the last 12 months.

From January 2007 though ALL downloads were eligible for the UK top 40, whether released today or 25 years ago. This meant songs like ‘In the Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins on the back of a TV advert surged back into the top 20, 26 years after its release and purely on downloads

This week 1/02/09 you would need 6291 to break into the UK top 40, that’s not definitive of the whole year though. When releasing your single always consider seasonal peaks and monthly trends and work out the best time to release a single.

Festival season means higher music consumption. If Bruce Springsteen headlines Glastonbury this year you can bet your life that ‘Born To Run’ will be shooting back into the top 75 following its television coverage

So releasing your single on Reading or Glastonbury weekends is a big no if you are looking for a chart placing.

Generally the second week of January is still the quietest sales period of the year.

On average you would need

Top 10 – 18,000

Top 20 – 8, 000

Top 30 – 5,000

Top 40 – 4,000

Top 100 – 1500

Top 200 – 750

Another question we are asked is how many formats are chart eligible as well as length and numbers of tracks etc, here are the official chart rules on the matter. To get into the charts, you must adhere to these rules…

1) Your music must be available on one or more eligible formats, these can be CD, DVD, Vinyl, Digital download, Mini Disc , digital memory service, and Flexi Disc.

You may notice that music videos are not mentioned here, well they can be made chart eligible, to find out more email me on lee@dittomusic.com and I’ll let you know how.

2) All formats must contain the featured track or a version / remix of it

3) Only Three formats can be included in a singles sales. Sales of any additional formats are disregarded when calculating the chart position.

4) The single must meet the minimum dealer price, i.e. you cannot sell your download at 29 pence as it would not meet the minimum dealer price and would not be eligible for the charts.

5) Each format must have no more than four different tracks on it though each song may appear in any number of different versions.

6) The maximum running time for any music format is 25 minutes if more than one different song is featured, or 40 minutes if only one song is featured in multiple versions/ mixes

7) The Mini CD is now chart eligible and was introduced to attract music buyers back into the CD buying market. It can have a running time of 8-10 minutes and contain no more than 2 tracks.

Pre release

Pre release a few years ago would mean someone going into a record shop, making an order for your CD before release date, paying for it, and then picking it up once it’s officially released.

Well that is how it works with selling digital music. You can release a single in 3 months time and people can pre order it for the duration of that period. This means they pay for the music now but cannot download it until release day.

Then, on your release date fans can download the music and all sales from the last three months count towards your first week of sales. With our help Koopa had 3 UK top 40 singles; their third single “The Crash” sold 8,800 copies in two months taking it to number 16 on first week of release.

Lastly, we are asked how many copies of a song can an individual legally purchase.

Well, the short answer is Three.

Each person can purchase the track three times. If you have ten different credit cards don’t start imagining buying three off each, they won’t count!

Whoever’s name comes up on the credit card, they will be allowed to buy the track three times, any more than that and it will not count and could end up with disqualification.

The charts company has the right to look into any suspicious activities. If you have sold 1000 copies from the same IP address then it will flag in their system and they will look into it.

Each person can however buy separate versions. If you had 10 remixes then each person could buy each of these three times. Your sales patterns need to add up though. If you have one hundred people buying 10 versions three times and that amounts to all of your sales, it’s going to flag up as there is obvious foul play at large!

So make it available on as many versions as possible and be creative. We can help you with your bundling and make things like videos chart eligible

SEllng your track by SMS is a great way of building up sales during pre release periods.

Since January 2008 ALL sales purchased from mobile phones during pre release periods have to be redeemed. So if you manage to get 100 people to purchase your music at a gig straight from their mobile, make sure you have their details.

Ditto music are the only company who offer the pre release service , if you have any questions regarding your release then feel free to email us or give one of us a bell in the office.

Here are Koopas sales figures for reaching the UK top 40 singles chart.

Blag Steal and Borrow 4001 units Chart placement #31

One off song for the summer 5043units Chart placement #21

The Crash 8470 unites Chart placement #16