UK Independent Charts

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The UK Independent Charts ( UK Indie Charts for short ) were independent charts that were published in Great Britain from January 1980 to December 1989. Singles and albums were listed according to their sales success in weekly lists . The criterion was that record labels and distributors independent of the major labels were involved in production , marketing and sales . The purpose was to give retailers an orientation on the current demand for the publications of independent labels . The first UK Independent Charts were raised in Great Britain on January 19, 1980.

history

The British independent charts came about from the initiative of Ian McNay, owner of Cherry Red Records, and John Hayward, a journalist with the record business . The background to this was the exponentially growing number of independent record companies in Great Britain with the punk movement in the late 1970s. At the same time, an infrastructure developed that took care of the needs of these small record companies, such as B. the distribution companies Pinnacle, Spartan or Cartel. The independent charts closed another gap in this infrastructure, because hardly any independent title made it into the top 75 of the regular charts. The number of items sold was too low for that. A chart survey specially tailored to this market should provide a remedy and provide an overview of the most successful independent titles and thus an incentive for owners of record stores to buy the titles in order to offer them to customers.

The criteria were interpreted strictly. A record that was given "Independent" status was not allowed to work with a large record company in production, manufacture, marketing or distribution. The weekly single charts and album charts were created based on real sales. The industry journal Record Business created the charts until 1981 and was then taken over by the Media Research & Information Bureau (MRIB). The charts were sold to other magazines for printing, e.g. B. to the industry magazine Music Week or the music magazine Sounds . In 1985 Music Week tried to compile the independent charts itself, but never achieved the authority of the original independent charts. Just like the charts of other magazines, the survey of which was based solely on the sales of a record store. The MRIB lost an important customer with Music Week , but licensed its charts to many smaller magazines, including foreign ones, and from 1985 was able to acquire the glossy teenage magazine Number One and from 1988 to 1989 Melody Maker as new customers for the independent charts win.

Since June 29, 2009, the independent charts have been compiled by the Official Charts Company . The criteria have been redefined. According to this, the status "Independent" is awarded as soon as the publication is 50% independent of a major label, whereby the distribution is not taken into account. It is justified by the fact that the major labels have increasingly outsourced sales . Allison Schnackenberg from Southern Records criticized the new rules and feared a gradual dilution of the term independent .

literature

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Barry Lazell: Indie - Hits 1980-1989, Introduction - III , Cerry Red Books, London 1997. ISBN 0-95172-069-4
  2. ↑ Official Charts Company: Who We Are - History of the Official Charts , found April 11, 2010
  3. ↑ The Association of Independent Music (AIM): Independent Charts ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musicindie.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Found: April 11, 2010
  4. ↑ Sean Michaels: Independent music charts to be relaunched , In: guardian.co.uk, found April 11, 2010
  5. ^ Louis Pattison: What do indie labels make of the new independent charts? , Guardian.co.uk., Music Blog, Posted: June 17th, 2009. Viewed: April 14th, 2010