" Poor Little Fool " is a song written by Sharon Sheeley and first recorded by Ricky Nelson in 1958.
124-469: The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital ), online streaming , and radio airplay in the U.S. A new chart is compiled and released online to the public by Billboard' s website on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday, when
248-420: A disruptive technology to the commercial interests which published sheet music. During the sheet music era, if a regular person wanted to hear popular new songs, he or she would buy the sheet music and play it at home on a piano, or learn the song at home while playing the accompaniment part on piano or guitar. Commercially released phonograph records of musical performances, which became available starting in
372-487: A road crew : a semi-permanent touring organization that travels with the artist during concert series. The road crew is headed by a tour manager . Crew members provides stage lighting , live sound reinforcement , musical instrument maintenance and transportation . On large tours, the road crew may also include an accountant, stage manager, bodyguard, hairdressers, makeup artists and catering staff. Local crews are typically hired to help move equipment on and off stage. On
496-474: A Hot 100 Top 40 hit in each of the four decades from the 1980s through the 2010s: Michael Jackson , Madonna , "Weird Al" Yankovic , U2 , and Kenny G . Mariah Carey is the first artist to have a number-one single in four different decades. SiriusXM Pop2K uses the Hot 100 charts for the 2000s for the "Pop2Kountdown", where radio personal Rich Davis plays the top 30 songs on the Hot 100 from that specific week in
620-422: A biography of Mozart. In the 19th century, sheet-music publishers dominated the music industry. Before the invention of sound recording technologies, the main way for music lovers to hear new symphonies and opera arias (songs) was to buy the sheet music (often arranged for piano or for a small chamber music group) and perform the music in a living room, using friends who were amateur musicians and singers. In
744-415: A certain market niche. Only the industry's most popular artists are signed directly to the major label. These companies account for more than half of US market share. However, this has fallen somewhat in recent years, as the new digital environment allows smaller labels to compete more effectively. Total album sales have declined in the early decades of the 21st century, leading some music critics to declare
868-419: A composer's music might only be known in the city she lived in and its surrounding towns, because only wealthy aristocrats would be able to afford to have hand copies made of her music. With music printing, though, a composer's music could be printed and sold at a relatively low cost to purchasers from a wide geographic area. As sheet music of major composer's pieces and songs began to be printed and distributed in
992-464: A daily or hourly rate) in a recording session . In the 21st century, advances in digital recording technology have allowed many producers and artists to create " home studios " using high-end computers and digital recording programs like Pro Tools , bypassing the traditional role of the commercial recording studio. The record producer oversees all aspects of the recording, making many of the logistic, financial and artistic decisions in cooperation with
1116-514: A fixed price per song or album, Spotify pays artists based on their "market share" (the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service). Spotify distributes approximately 70% to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their agreements. The variable, and (some say) inadequate nature of this compensation, has led to criticism. Spotify reports paying on average US$ 0.006 to US$ 0.008 per stream. In response to concerns, Spotify claims that they are benefiting
1240-545: A label continues to be a popular choice for up-and-coming musicians, especially in genres like hardcore punk and extreme metal , even though indies cannot offer the same financial backing of major labels. Some bands prefer to sign with an indie label, because these labels typically give performers more artistic freedom. In the first decade of the 2000s, digitally downloaded and streamed music became more popular than buying physical recordings (e.g. CDs , records and tapes ). This gave consumers almost "friction-less" access to
1364-523: A laptop in a bedroom and to distribute it over the Internet to a worldwide audience. This, in turn, has caused problems for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers : the Los Angeles Times reports that as many as half of the recording facilities in that city have failed. Changes in the music industry have given consumers access to a wider variety of music than ever before, at
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#17327800177071488-548: A large amount of data is processed. Access to big data may increase transparency in the industry. Music publishing using machine-printed sheet music developed during the Renaissance music era in the mid-15th century. The development of music publication followed the evolution of printing technologies that were first developed for printing regular books . After the mid-15th century, mechanical techniques for printing sheet music were first developed. The earliest example,
1612-412: A nationwide and sometimes even a worldwide scale. Moreover, whereas attendance at the top symphony and opera concerts was formerly restricted to high-income people in a pre-radio world, with broadcast radio , a much larger wider range of people, including lower and middle-income people could hear the best orchestras , big bands , popular singers and opera shows. The "record industry" eventually replaced
1736-464: A new single, featuring the former B-side as the A-side, along with a "new" B-side. The inclusion of album cuts on the Hot 100 put the double-sided hit issues to rest permanently. As many Hot 100 chart policies have been modified over the years, one rule always remained constant: songs were not eligible to enter the Hot 100 unless they were available to purchase as a single. However, on December 5, 1998,
1860-476: A percentage of the artist's income. An entertainment lawyer assists them with the details of their contracts with record companies and other deals. A business manager handles financial transactions, taxes, and bookkeeping. Unions, such as AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians in the U.S. provide health insurance and instrument insurance for musicians. A successful artist functions in
1984-545: A performing artist and a venue owner and arranges contracts. A booking agency represents the artist to promoters, makes deals and books performances. Consumers usually buy tickets either from the venue or from a ticket distribution service such as Ticketmaster . In the US, Live Nation is the dominant company in all of these roles: they own most of the large venues in the US, they are the largest promoter, and they own Ticketmaster . Choices about where and when to tour are decided by
2108-489: A photograph for the "Poor Little Fool" single. As a result, "Poor Little Fool" was the only Ricky Nelson single released by Imperial to be issued in the United States without a photo in a plain-label, cut-out sleeve. Cashbox called the song a "beautiful rock-a-ballad that should jump into the winners' circle in short order". Tom Breihan of Stereogum called "Poor Little Fool" a "negligible midtempo bopper" with
2232-591: A point system that typically gave sales (purchases) more weight than radio airplay. The first No. 1 in that chart was " Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing " by The Four Aces . The Best Sellers in Stores , Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. On June 17, 1957, Billboard discontinued the Most Played in Jukeboxes chart, as
2356-504: A price that gradually approaches zero. However, consumer spending on music-related software and hardware increased dramatically over the last decade, providing a valuable new income-stream for technology companies such as Apple Inc. and Pandora Radio . According to IFPI, the global digital album sales grew by 6.9% in 2014. Source: Nielsen SoundScan, Official Charts Company/BPI, GfK and IFPI estimate. World music market sales shares, according to IFPI (2005) Prior to December 1998,
2480-588: A printer and publisher who was able to secure a twenty-year monopoly on printed music in Venice during the 16th century. Venice was one of the major business and music centers during this period. His Harmonice Musices Odhecaton , a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet music printed from movable type. That distinction belongs to the Roman printer Ulrich Han's Missale Romanum of 1476. Nevertheless, Petrucci's later work
2604-433: A record company. In the 2000s, consumer electronics and computer companies such as Apple Computer have become digital music retailers . New digital music distribution technologies and the trends towards using sampling of older songs in new songs or blending different songs to create "mashup" recordings have also forced both governments and the music industry to re-examine the definitions of intellectual property and
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#17327800177072728-484: A report in 2012, noting that these labels controlled 88.5% of the market, and further noted: Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically. Market shares as of September 2018 are as follows: The largest players in this industry own more than 100 subsidiary record labels or sublabels, each specializing in
2852-556: A set of liturgical chants, dates from about 1465, shortly after the Gutenberg Bible was printed. Prior to this time, music had to be copied out by hand. To copy music notation by hand was a very costly, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process, so it was usually undertaken only by monks and priests seeking to preserve sacred music for the church. The few collections of secular (non-religious) music that are extant were commissioned and owned by wealthy aristocrats. Examples include
2976-632: A single composition and a single recording will typically be distributed via many media. For example, the song " My Way " is owned by its composers, Paul Anka and Claude François , Frank Sinatra 's recording of "My Way" is owned by Capitol Records , Sid Vicious 's recording of "My Way" is owned by Virgin Records , and the millions of CDs and vinyl records that can play these recordings are owned by millions of individual consumers. Songs , instrumental pieces and other musical compositions are created by songwriters or composers and are originally owned by
3100-434: A single until airplay was at its absolute peak, thus prompting a top ten or, in some cases, a number-one debut. In many cases, a label would delete a single from its catalog after only one week, thus allowing the song to enter the Hot 100, make a high debut and then slowly decline in position as the one-time production of the retail single sold out. It was during this period that several popular mainstream hits never charted on
3224-481: A small tour with less financial backing, all of these jobs may be handled by just a few roadies or by the musicians themselves. Bands signed with small "indie" labels and bands in genres such as hardcore punk are more likely to do tours without a road crew, or with minimal support. Artists such as singers and musicians may hire several people from other fields to assist them with their career. The artist manager oversees all aspects of an artist's career in exchange for
3348-650: A specific year from the 2000s. '90s on 9 also does a similar countdown show called the "Back in the Day Replay Countdown" hosted by Downtown Julie Brown ; however, this focuses on the Hot 100 charts from the 1990s. A new chart, the Pop 100 , was created by Billboard in February 2005 to answer criticism that the Hot 100 at the time was too dominated by hip hop and R&B. It was discontinued in June 2009 due to
3472-435: A trend they had started in the 1960s by putting the same song on both sides of the singles provided to radio. More complex issues began to arise as the typical A-and-B-side format of singles gave way to 12 inch singles and maxi-singles, many of which contained more than one B-side. Further problems arose when, in several cases, a B-side would eventually overtake the A-side in popularity, thus prompting record labels to release
3596-542: A very long time to gain mainstream success. These rare cases are handled on a case-by-case basis and ultimately determined by Billboard ' s chart managers and staff. Older songs are allowed to re-enter to the Hot 100 provided they chart higher than number 50. Christmas songs have been a regular presence on the Hot 100 each December since the relaxation of recurrent rules, culminating in Mariah Carey 's 1994 recording " All I Want for Christmas Is You " reaching No. 1 on
3720-617: A very straightforward cumulative total of yearlong sales, streaming, and airplay points. This gives a more accurate picture of any given year's most popular tracks, as the points accrued by one song during its week at number one in March might be less than those accrued by another song reaching number three in January. Songs at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked on
3844-403: A week spent at position 100, two points for a week spent at position 99 and so forth, up to 100 points for each week spent at number one). Other factors including the total weeks a song spent on the chart and at its peak position were calculated into its year-end total. After Billboard began obtaining sales and airplay information from Nielsen SoundScan, the year-end charts are now calculated by
Billboard Hot 100 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-582: A wider area, this enabled composers and listeners to hear new styles and forms of music. A German composer could buy songs written by an Italian or English composer, and an Italian composer could buy pieces written by Dutch composers and learn how they wrote music. This led to more blending of musical styles from different countries and regions. The pioneer of modern music printing was Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone in 1466 – died in 1539 in Venice),
4092-590: A wider variety of music than ever before, across multiple devices. At the same time, consumers spent less money on recorded music (both physically and digitally distributed) than they had in the 1990s. Total "music-business" revenues in the U.S. dropped by half, from a high of $ 14.6 billion in 1999 to $ 6.3 billion in 2009, according to Forrester Research . Worldwide revenues for CDs, vinyl , cassettes and digital downloads fell from $ 36.9 billion in 2000 to $ 15.9 billion in 2010 according to IFPI. The Economist and The New York Times reported that
4216-406: Is Jennifer Lopez 's " I'm Real ". Originally entering the Hot 100 in its album version, a "remix" was issued in the midst of its chart run that featured rapper Ja Rule . This new version proved to be more popular than the album version and the track was propelled to number one. To address this issue, Billboard now separates airplay points from a song's original version and its remix, if the remix
4340-452: Is determined to be a "new song". Since administering this new chart rule, several songs have charted twice, normally credited as "Part 1" and "Part 2". The remix rule is still in place. Billboard , in an effort to allow the chart to remain as current as possible and to give representation to new and developing artists and tracks, has (since 1991) removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding its current rank and number of weeks on
4464-573: Is less clear-cut. Some date it to the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph and radio supplanted sheet music as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into the 1950s when earlier styles of American popular music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll . At the dawn of the early 20th century, the development of sound recording began to function as
4588-564: Is paid to songwriters, composers and recording artists. This royalty is typically much smaller than publishing or mechanical royalties . Within the past decade, more than "15 to 30 percent" of tracks on streaming services are unidentified with a specific artist. Jeff Price says "Audiam, an online music streaming service, has made over several hundred thousand dollars in the past year from collecting royalties from online streaming. According to Ken Levitan, manager from Kings of Leon, Cheap Trick and others, "Youtube has become radio for kids". Because of
4712-432: Is post-dated with the "week-ending" issue date four days after the charts are refreshed online (i.e., the following Saturday). For example: The methods and policies by which this data is obtained and compiled have changed many times throughout the chart's history. Although the advent of a singles music chart spawned chart historians and chart-watchers and greatly affected pop culture and produced countless bits of trivia,
4836-504: Is signed. A publishing company will also promote the compositions, such as by acquiring song "placements" on television or in films . Recordings are created by recording artists , which includes singers , musicians (including session musicians ) and musical ensembles (e.g. backing bands , rhythm sections , orchestras , etc.) usually with the assistance and guidance from record producers and audio engineers . They were traditionally made in recording studios (which are rented for
4960-574: Is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States . In the first decades of the 2000s, the music industry underwent drastic changes with the advent of widespread digital distribution of music via the Internet (which includes both illegal file sharing of songs and legal music purchases in online music stores ). A conspicuous indicator of these changes is total music sales: since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially while live music has increased in importance. In 2011,
5084-538: The Billboard Hot 100 tracks paid digital downloads from such internet services as iTunes , Musicmatch , and Rhapsody . Billboard initially started tracking downloads in 2003 with the Hot Digital Tracks chart. However, these downloads did not count towards the Hot 100 and that chart (as opposed to Hot Digital Songs ) counted each version of a song separately. This was the first major overhaul of
Billboard Hot 100 - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-427: The Renaissance music era. His printing shop used the triple-impression method, in which a sheet of paper was pressed three times. The first impression was the staff lines, the second the words, and the third the notes. This method produced very clean and readable results, although it was time-consuming and expensive. Until the 18th century, the processes of formal composition and of the printing of music took place for
5332-562: The Squarcialupi Codex of Italian Trecento music and the Chantilly Codex of French Ars subtilior music. The use of printing enabled sheet music to be reproduced much more quickly and at a much lower cost than hand-copying music notation. This helped musical styles to spread to other cities and countries more quickly, and it also enabled music to be spread to more distant areas. Before the invention of music printing,
5456-418: The artist's management and the artist, sometimes in consultation with the record company . Record companies may finance a tour in the hopes that it will help promote the sale of recordings. However, in the 21st century, it has become more common to release recordings to promote ticket sales for live shows, rather than book tours to promote the sales of recordings. Major, successful artists will usually employ
5580-654: The booking agents , promoters , music venues , road crew , and audio engineers who help organize and sell concerts. The industry also includes a range of professionals who assist singers and musicians with their music careers. These include talent managers , artists and repertoire managers, business managers , entertainment lawyers ; those who broadcast audio or video music content ( satellite , Internet radio stations , broadcast radio and TV stations ); music journalists and music critics ; DJs ; music educators and teachers ; manufacturers of musical instruments and music equipment; as well as many others. In addition to
5704-538: The death of the album . (For instance, the only albums that went platinum in the US in 2014 were the soundtrack to the Disney animated film Frozen and Taylor Swift's 1989 , whereas several artists did in 2013.) The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in 2014. Source: IFPI 2014 annual report. In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , Seagram reported that Universal Music Group made 40% of
5828-446: The 10 top selling records of three leading record companies, as reported by the companies themselves. In October 1938, a review list, "The Week's Best Records", was retitled "The Billboard Record Buying Guide" by incorporating airplay and sheet music sales, which would eventually become the first trade survey of record popularity. This led to the full-page "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" for the week ending July 20, 1940, and published in
5952-402: The 1930s and 1950s, when records replaced sheet music as the most important product in the music business. In the commercial world, "the recording industry"—a reference to recording performances of songs and pieces and selling the recordings–began to be used as a loose synonym for "the music industry". In the 2000s, a majority of the music market is controlled by three major corporate labels:
6076-473: The 1990s many record companies stopped releasing singles altogether (see Album Cuts , below). Eventually, a song's airplay points were weighted more so than its sales. Billboard has adjusted the sales/airplay ratio many times to more accurately reflect the true popularity of songs. Billboard has also changed its Hot 100 policy regarding "two-sided singles" several times. The pre-Hot 100 chart "Best Sellers in Stores" listed popular A- and-B-sides together, with
6200-621: The 2000s, traditional lines that once divided singers, instrumentalists, publishers, record companies, distributors, retail and consumer electronics have become blurred or erased. Artists may record in a home studio using a high-end laptop and a digital recording program such as Pro Tools or use Kickstarter to raise money for an expensive studio recording session without involving a record company. Artists may choose to exclusively promote and market themselves using only free online video sharing services such as YouTube or using social media websites, bypassing traditional promotion and marketing by
6324-706: The French-owned Universal Music Group , the Japanese-owned Sony Music Entertainment , and the US-owned Warner Music Group . Labels outside of these three major labels are referred to as independent labels (or "indies"). The largest portion of the live music market for concerts and tours is controlled by Live Nation , the largest promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation is a former subsidiary of iHeartMedia Inc , which
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#17327800177076448-471: The Hot 100 (then called Top 40 Radio Monitor ). The ongoing splintering of Top 40 radio in the early 1990s led stations to lean into specific formats, meaning that practically no station would play the wide array of genres that typically composed each weekly Hot 100 chart. An artist or band's ability to have hits in the Hot 100 across multiple decades is recognized as a sign of longevity and being able to adapt to changing musical styles. Only five artists had
6572-414: The Hot 100 changed from being a "singles" chart to a "songs" chart. During the 1990s, a growing trend in the music industry was to promote songs to radio without ever releasing them as singles. It was claimed by major record labels that singles were cannibalizing album sales, so they were slowly phased out. During this period, accusations began to fly of chart manipulation as labels would hold off on releasing
6696-401: The Hot 100's chart formula since December 1998. The change in methodology has shaken up the chart considerably, with some songs debuting on the chart strictly with robust online sales and others making drastic leaps. In recent years, several songs have been able to achieve 80-to-90 position jumps in a single week as their digital components were made available at online music stores. Since 2006,
6820-420: The Hot 100's early history, singles were the leading way by which people bought music. At times, when singles sales were robust, more weight was given to a song's retail points than to its radio airplay. As the decades passed, the recording industry concentrated more on album sales than singles sales. Musicians eventually expressed their creative output in the form of full-length albums rather than singles, and by
6944-482: The Hot 100, or charted well after their airplay had declined. During the period that they were not released as singles, the songs were not eligible to chart. Many of these songs dominated the Hot 100 Airplay chart for extended periods of time: As debate and conflicts occurred more and more often, Billboard finally answered the requests of music industry artists and insiders to include airplay-only songs (or "album cuts") in
7068-480: The Hot 100, while the retail component was reduced from 40% to 25%. Extended play (EP) releases were listed by Billboard on the Hot 100 and in pre-Hot 100 charts (Top 100) until the mid-to-late 1960s. With the growing popularity of albums, it was decided to move EPs (which typically contain four to six tracks) from the Hot 100 to the Billboard 200 , where they are included to this day. Since February 12, 2005,
7192-428: The Internet. With streaming services, the user pays a subscription to a company for the right to listen to songs and other media from a library. Whereas with legal digital download services, the purchaser owns a digital copy of the song (which they can keep on their computer or on a digital media player), with streaming services, the user never downloads the song file or owns the song file. The subscriber can only listen to
7316-518: The July 27 issue, with lists covering jukebox play, retail sales, sheet music sales, and radio play. Listed were 10 songs of the national "Best Selling Retail Records", which was the fore-runner of today's pop chart, with " I'll Never Smile Again " by Tommy Dorsey its first number one. Starting on March 24, 1945, Billboard ' s lead popularity chart was the Honor Roll of Hits . This chart ranked
7440-485: The United States became known as Tin Pan Alley . The name originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan , and a plaque (see below ) on the sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth commemorates it. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when several music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan . The end of Tin Pan Alley
7564-476: The United States, the music industry arose in tandem with the rise of " black face " minstrelsy . Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a black person . The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of negative racial stereotypes of African-American people. In the late part of the century the group of music publishers and songwriters which dominated popular music in
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#17327800177077688-533: The all-time record for the biggest single-week upward movement was broken nine times. In the issue dated August 11, 2007, Billboard began incorporating weekly data from streaming media and on-demand services into the Hot 100. The first two major companies to provide their statistics to Nielsen BDS on a weekly basis were AOL Music and Yahoo! Music . On March 24, 2012, Billboard premiered its On-Demand Songs chart, which ranks web radio streams from services such as Spotify , as well as on-demand audio titles. Its data
7812-450: The artists. The record producer has a range of different responsibilities including choosing material and/or working with the composers, hiring session musicians, helping to arrange the songs, overseeing the musician performances, and directing the audio engineer during recording and mixing to get the best sound. Audio engineers (including recording , mixing and mastering engineers ) are responsible for ensuring good audio quality during
7936-420: The business relationship between a recording artist and the record company. In a traditional contract, the company provides an advance to the artist who agrees to make a recording that will be owned by the company. The A&R department of a record company is responsible for finding new talent and overseeing the recording process. The company pays for the recording costs and the cost of promoting and marketing
8060-523: The businesses and artists there are organizations that also play an important role, including musician's unions (e.g. American Federation of Musicians ), not-for-profit performance-rights organizations (e.g. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ) and other associations (e.g. International Alliance for Women in Music , a non-profit organization that advocates for women composers and musicians ). The modern Western music industry emerged between
8184-470: The chart in December 2019. Billboard altered its tracking-week for sales, streaming and radio airplay in order to conform to a new Global Release Date, which now falls on Fridays in all major-market territories (United States product was formerly released on Tuesdays before June 2015). This modified tracking schedule took effect in the issue dated July 25, 2015. Billboard ' s "chart year" runs from
8308-571: The chart is " A Bar Song (Tipsy) " by Shaboozey . The first chart published by Billboard was "Last Week's Ten Best Sellers Among the Popular Songs", a list of best-selling sheet music, in July 1913. Other charts listed popular song performances in theatres and recitals. In 1928, "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders" appeared, which added radio performances to in-person performances. On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published "Ten Best Records for Week Ending", which listed
8432-415: The chart. Recurrent criteria have been modified several times and currently (as of 2015), a song is permanently moved to "recurrent status" if it has spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and fallen below position number 50. Additionally, descending songs are removed from the chart if ranking below number 25 after 52 weeks. Exceptions are made to re-releases and sudden resurgence in popularity of tracks that have taken
8556-505: The charts becoming increasingly similar. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched June 16, 2007. Like the Hot 100 chart, it uses sales and airplay tracking compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and BDS . The Billboard Japan Hot 100 was launched in the issue dated May 31, 2008, using the same methodologies as the Hot 100 charts for the U.S. and Canada, using sales and airplay data from SoundScan Japan and radio tracking service Plantech. The Vietnamese edition of Hot 100, Billboard Vietnam Hot 100 ,
8680-499: The composer, although they may be sold or the rights may be otherwise assigned. For example, in the case of work for hire , the composition is owned immediately by another party. Traditionally, the copyright owner licenses or "assigns" some of their rights to publishing companies , by means of a publishing contract . The publishing company (or a collection society operating on behalf of many such publishers, songwriters and composers) collects fees (known as " publishing royalties ") when
8804-417: The composition is used. A portion of the royalties are paid by the publishing company to the copyright owner, depending on the terms of the contract. Sheet music provides an income stream that is paid exclusively to the composers and their publishing company. Typically (although not universally), the publishing company will provide the owner with an advance against future earnings when the publishing contract
8928-549: The consumers after they buy them. Buyers do not typically have the right to make digital copies from CDs or other media they buy, or rent or lease the CDs, because they do not own the recording on the CD, they only own the individual physical CD. A music distributor delivers crates of the packaged physical media from the manufacturer to the retailer and maintains commercial relationships with retailers and record companies. The music retailer pays
9052-634: The debut of the Apple iTunes Store in 2003. The popularity of music distribution over the Internet has increased, and by 2011 digital music sales topped physical sales of music. In 2008, Atlantic Records reports that digital sales have surpassed physical sales. However, as The Economist reported, "paid digital downloads grew rapidly, but did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs". After 2010, Internet-based services such as Deezer , Pandora , Spotify , and Apple's iTunes Radio began to offer subscription-based " pay to stream " services over
9176-573: The decline in sales of recordings. The 2008 British Music Rights survey showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service, however only half of the respondents thought that the music's creators should be paid. The survey was consistent with the results of earlier research conducted in the United States, upon which the Open Music Model was based. Legal digital downloads became widely available with
9300-586: The distributor, who in turn pays the record company for the recordings. The record company pays mechanical royalties to the publisher and composer via a collection society. The record company then pays royalties, if contractually obligated, to the recording artist. When music is digitally downloaded or streamed , there is no physical media other than the consumer's computer memory on his or her portable media player or laptop. For this reason, artists such as Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon, and others have called for legal changes that would deny social media
9424-451: The downward trend was expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This dramatic decline in revenue has caused large-scale layoffs inside the industry, driven some more venerable retailers (such as Tower Records ) out of business and forced record companies, record producers, studios, recording engineers and musicians to seek new business models . In response to the rise of widespread illegal file sharing of digital music-recordings,
9548-415: The early illegal file sharing days. However, the multitude of service offerings and revenue models make it difficult to understand the true value of each and what they can deliver for musicians and music companies. As well, there are major transparency problems throughout the music industry caused by outdated technology. With the emerging of new business models as streaming platforms, and online music services,
9672-483: The end of the 1980s, the "Big six" — EMI , CBS , BMG , PolyGram , WEA and MCA — dominated the industry. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987 and changed its name to Sony Music in 1991. In mid-1998, PolyGram Music Group merged with MCA Music Entertainment creating what we now know as Universal Music Group . Since then, Sony and BMG merged in 2004, and Universal took over the majority of EMI's recorded music interests in 2012. EMI Music Publishing , also once part of
9796-502: The first number-one song on Billboard magazine 's then-new Hot 100 chart, replacing the magazine's Jockeys and Top 100 charts. It spent two weeks at the number-one spot. It also reached the top 10 on the Billboard Country and Rhythm and Blues charts. Following its success, Sheeley worked with Eddie Cochran . "Poor Little Fool" became a radio hit when it was released as part of a four-song extended-play 45 rpm disc, which
9920-467: The first week of December to the final week in November. This altered calendar allows for Billboard to calculate year-end charts and release them in time for its final print issue in the last week of December. Before Nielsen SoundScan, year-end singles charts were calculated by an inverse-point system based solely on a song's performance on the Hot 100 (for example, a song would be given one point for
10044-413: The following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart-years, but often are ranked lower than they would have been had the peak occurred in a single year. The Hot 100 served for many years as the data source for the weekly radio countdown show American Top 40 . This relationship ended on November 30, 1991, as American Top 40 started using the airplay-only side of
10168-408: The industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers , musicians , conductors , and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels , music publishers , recording studios , music producers , audio engineers , retail and digital music stores , and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and
10292-698: The industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13, 1958. The Hot 100 was created by journalists Tom Noonan, Paul Ackerman , and Seymour Stein ; Stein did not recall who chose the name. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a song's popularity is measured in the United States. The Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan (both at retail and digitally) and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to
10416-481: The industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000: In 2004, the joint venture of Sony and BMG created the 'Big Four' at a time the global market
10540-429: The largest recorded music retailer in the world was now a digital, Internet -based platform operated by a computer company: Apple Inc. 's online iTunes Store . Since 2011, the music industry has seen consistent sales growth with streaming now generating more revenue per year than digital downloads. Spotify , Apple Music , and Amazon Music are the largest streaming services by subscriber count. The main branches of
10664-399: The late 1880s, and later the onset of widespread radio broadcasting , starting in the 1920s, forever changed the way music was heard and listened to. Opera houses, concert halls, and clubs continued to produce music and musicians and singers continued to perform live, but the power of radio allowed bands, ensembles and singers who had previously performed only in one region to become popular on
10788-413: The main purpose of the Hot 100 is to aid those within the music industry: to reflect the popularity of the "product" (the singles, the albums, etc.) and to track the trends of the buying public. Billboard has (many times) changed its methodology and policies to give the most precise and accurate reflection of what is popular. A very basic example of this would be the ratio given to sales and airplay. During
10912-461: The majority of their income, which in turn has made them more dependent – like pre-20th-century musicians – on patrons, now exemplified by music promoters such as Live Nation (which dominates tour promotion and owns or manages a large number of music venues ). In order to benefit from all of an artist's income streams, record companies increasingly rely on the " 360 deal ", a new business-relationship pioneered by Robbie Williams and EMI in 2007. At
11036-491: The market as a brand and, as such, they may derive income from many other streams, such as merchandise , personal endorsements, appearances (without performing) at events or Internet-based services. These are typically overseen by the artist's manager and take the form of relationships between the artist and companies that specialize in these products. Singers may also hire a vocal coach , dance instructor , acting coach , personal trainer or life coach to help them. In
11160-480: The market: After the absorption of EMI by Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group in December 2011 the "big three" were created and on January 8, 2013, after the merger there were layoffs of forty workers from EMI. European regulators forced Universal Music to spin off EMI assets which became the Parlophone Label Group which was acquired by Warner Music Group. Nielsen SoundScan issued
11284-528: The most part with the support of patronage from aristocracies and churches . In the mid-to-late 18th century, performers and composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to seek more commercial opportunities to market their music and performances to the general public. After Mozart's death, his wife ( Constanze Weber ) continued the process of commercialization of his music through an unprecedented series of memorial concerts, selling his manuscripts, and collaborating with her second husband, Georg Nissen , on
11408-404: The most popular songs regardless of performer (it combined different versions of the same song by different artists) based on record and sheet sales, disk jockey, and jukebox performances as determined by Billboard ' s weekly nationwide survey. At the start of the rock era in 1955, there were three charts that measured songs by individual metrics: Billboard ' s primary chart among these
11532-426: The music business by migrating "them away from piracy and less monetized platforms and allowing them to generate far greater royalties than before" by encouraging users to use their paid service. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealed in its 2015 earnings report that streaming services were responsible for 34.3 percent of the year's U.S. recorded-music-industry revenue, growing 29 percent from
11656-504: The music industry are the live music industry, the recording industry , and all the companies that train, support, supply and represent musicians. The recording industry produces three separate products: compositions (songs, pieces, lyrics), recordings (audio and video) and media (such as CDs or MP3s , and DVDs ). These are each a type of property : typically, compositions are owned by composers, recordings by record companies, and media by consumers. There may be many recordings of
11780-688: The now defunct British conglomerate, is now co-owned by Sony as a subsidiary of Sony/ATV Music Publishing . As in other industries, the record industry is characterised by many mergers and/or acquisitions, for the major companies as well as for middle sized business (recent example is given by the Belgium group PIAS and French group Harmonia Mundi ). Genre-wise, music entrepreneurs expanded their industry models into areas like folk music , in which composition and performance had continued for centuries on an ad hoc self-supporting basis. Forming an independent record label , or "indie" label, or signing to such
11904-536: The other extreme, record companies can offer a simple manufacturing- and distribution-deal , which gives a higher percentage to the artist, but does not cover the expenses of marketing and promotion. Companies like Kickstarter help independent musicians produce their albums through fans funding bands they want to listen to. Many newer artists no longer see a record deal as an integral part of their business plan at all. Inexpensive recording-hardware and -software make it possible to record reasonable-quality music on
12028-432: The overall calculation of the Hot 100. The most significant ones are: The tracking week for sales, streaming and airplay begins on Friday and ends on Thursday (airplay used to have a tracking week from Monday to Sunday, but effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, the week was adjusted to align with the other two metrics). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesday. Each chart
12152-465: The overuse of YouTube and offline streaming, album sales have fallen by 60 percent in the past few years. When recordings are used in television and film , the composer and their publishing company are typically paid through a synchronization license . In the 2000s, online subscription services (such as Rhapsody ) also provide an income stream directly to record companies, and through them, to artists, contracts permitting. A promoter brings together
12276-482: The popularity of jukeboxes waned and radio stations incorporated more and more rock-oriented music into their playlists. The week of July 28, 1958, had the final Most Played by Jockeys and Top 100 charts, both of which had Perez Prado 's instrumental version of " Patricia " ascending to the top. On August 4, 1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart: the Hot 100 , with " Poor Little Fool " by Ricky Nelson its first No. 1. The Hot 100 quickly became
12400-414: The previous year and becoming the largest source of income, pulling in around $ 2.4 billion. US streaming revenue grew 57 percent to $ 1.6 billion in the first half of 2016 and accounted for almost half of industry sales. This contrasts with the $ 14.6 billion in revenue that was received in 1999 by the U.S. music industry from the sale of CDs. The turmoil in the recorded-music industry in the 2000s altered
12524-411: The printed magazine first reaches newsstands. The weekly tracking period for sales is currently Friday–Thursday, after being changed in July 2015. It was initially Monday–Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay is readily available on a real-time basis, unlike sales figures and streaming, but is also tracked on
12648-589: The publishing royalties described above. This portion is similar to a percentage, but may be limited or expanded by a number of factors (such as free goods, recoupable expenses, bonuses, etc.) that are specified by the record contract. Session musicians and orchestra members (as well as a few recording artists in special markets) are under contract to provide work for hire ; they are typically only paid one-time fees or regular wages for their services, rather than ongoing royalties. Physical media (such as CDs or vinyl records) are sold by music retailers and are owned by
12772-444: The record industry took aggressive legal action. In 2001 it succeeded in shutting down the popular music-website Napster , and threatened legal action against thousands of individuals who participated in sharing music-song sound-files. However, this failed to slow the decline in music-recording revenue and proved a public-relations disaster for the music industry. Some academic studies have even suggested that downloads did not cause
12896-415: The record. For physical media (such as CDs ), the company also pays to manufacture and distribute the physical recordings. Smaller record companies (known as " indies ") will form business relationships with other companies to handle many of these tasks. The record company pays the recording artist a portion of the income from the sale of the recordings, also known as a "royalty", but this is distinct from
13020-566: The recording, but others may restrict the user to storing the music on a specific number of hard drives or devices. When a recording is broadcast (either on radio or by a background music service such as Muzak ), performance rights organisations (such as the ASCAP and BMI in the US, SOCAN in Canada, or MCPS and PRS in the UK), collect a third type of royalty known as a performance royalty, which
13144-524: The recording. They select and set up microphones and use effects units and mixing consoles to adjust the sound and level of the music. A recording session may also require the services of an arranger , orchestrator , studio musicians , session musicians , vocal coaches , or even a discreetly hired ghostwriter to help with the lyrics or songwriting . Recordings are (traditionally) owned by record companies . Some artists own their own record companies (e.g. Ani DiFranco ). A recording contract specifies
13268-555: The right to stream their music without paying them royalties. In the digital and online music market of the 2000s, the distributor becomes optional. Large online shops may pay the labels directly, but digital distributors do exist to provide distribution services for vendors large and small. When purchasing digital downloads or listening to music streaming, the consumer may be required to agree to record company and vendor licensing terms beyond those which are inherent in copyright ; for example, some services may allow consumers to freely share
13392-435: The rights of all the parties involved. Also compounding the issue of defining copyright boundaries is the fact that the definition of "royalty" and "copyright" varies from country to country and region to region, which changes the terms of some of these business relationships. After 15 or so years of the Internet economy, the digital music industry platforms like iTunes , Spotify , and Google Play are major improvements over
13516-439: The same Friday–Thursday cycle, effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021. Previously, radio was tracked Monday–Sunday and, before July 2015, Wednesday–Tuesday. The first number-one song of the Billboard Hot 100 was " Poor Little Fool " by Ricky Nelson , on August 4, 1958. As of the issue for the week ending on November 30, 2024, the Billboard Hot 100 has had 1,175 different number-one entries. The current number-one song on
13640-469: The sheet music publishers as the music industry's largest force. A multitude of record labels came and went. Some noteworthy labels of the earlier decades include the Columbia Records , Crystalate, Decca Records , Edison Bell, The Gramophone Company , Invicta, Kalliope, Pathé , Victor Talking Machine Company and many others. Many record companies died out as quickly as they had formed, and by
13764-517: The side that was played most often (based on its other charts) listed first. One of the most notable of these, but far from the only one, was Elvis Presley 's "Don't Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog". During the Presley single's chart run, top billing was switched back and forth between the two sides several times. But on the concurrent "Most Played in Juke Boxes", "Most Played by Jockeys" and the "Top 100",
13888-537: The song for as long as they continue to pay the streaming subscription. Once the user stops paying the subscription, they cannot listen to audio from the company's repositories anymore. Streaming services began to have a serious impact on the industry in 2014. Spotify , together with the music-streaming industry in general, faces some criticism from artists claiming they are not being fairly compensated for their work as downloaded-music sales decline and music-streaming increases. Unlike physical or download sales, which pay
14012-465: The tune. She drove to his house, and claimed her car had broken down. He came to her aid, and she sprang the song on him. Her version was at a much faster tempo than his recording. The song was recorded by Ricky Nelson on April 17, 1958, and released on Imperial Records through its catalog number: 5528. The recording features the background vocals of the Jordanaires . On August 4, 1958, it became
14136-404: The twentieth-century balance between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music-stores and consumers. As of 2010 , big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy sell more records than music-only CD stores, which have ceased to function as a major player in the music industry. Music-performing artists now rely on live performance and merchandise sales (T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.) for
14260-428: The two songs were listed separately, as was true of all songs. With the initiation of the Hot 100 in 1958, A- and-B-sides charted separately, as they had on the former Top 100. Starting with the Hot 100 chart for the week ending November 29, 1969, this rule was altered; if both sides received significant airplay, they were listed together. This started to become a moot point by 1972, as most major record labels solidified
14384-424: The worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year. Interim physical retail sales in 2005. All figures in millions. Poor Little Fool Sheeley wrote the song when she was 15 years old. She had met Elvis Presley , and he encouraged her to write. It was based on her disappointment following a short-lived relationship with Don Everly of The Everly Brothers . Sheeley sought Ricky Nelson to record
14508-404: Was a tactic generally used by certain artists to boost their chart positions. Instead, such physical releases are now only counted when they are shipped to the consumer, rendering the tactic "ineffectual". A growing trend early in the first decade of the 21st century was to issue a song as a "remix" that was so drastically different in structure and lyrical content from its original version that it
14632-447: Was essentially a whole new song. Under normal circumstances, airplay points from a song's album version, "radio" mix and/or dance music remix, etc. were all combined and factored into the song's performance on the Hot 100, as the structure, lyrics and melody remained intact. Criticisms began when songs were being completely re-recorded to the point that they no longer resembled the original recording. The first such example of this scenario
14756-456: Was estimated at $ 30–40 billion. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s ) in 2004 were 3 billion. Additionally, according to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales: US music market shares, according to Nielsen SoundScan (2011) Nielsen SoundScan in their 2011 report noted that the "big four" controlled about 88% of
14880-487: Was excerpted from the artist's second LP, Ricky Nelson . Responding to the buzz, Lew Chudd , the founder and head of Imperial Records, rushed out a single version (on both 45 and 78 rpm). Nelson objected, however, believing that the move would hurt sales of the EP. Under his contract with Imperial, the singer had approval rights for all picture-sleeve art, so to express his displeasure with Chudd's decision, he chose not to select
15004-528: Was extraordinary for the complexity of his white mensural notation and the smallness of his font. He printed the first book of polyphony (music with two or more independent melodic lines) using movable type. He also published numerous works by the most highly regarded composers of the Renaissance, including Josquin des Prez and Antoine Brumel . He flourished by focusing on Flemish works, rather than Italian, as they were very popular throughout Europe during
15128-416: Was launched on January 14, 2022. Music industry The music industry refers to the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions , creating and selling recorded music and sheet music , presenting concerts , as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in
15252-460: Was the Best Sellers in Stores chart, and the magazine refers to that when discussing a song's performance before the creation of the Hot 100. In its issue of November 12, 1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time (for the survey weeks ending October 26 and November 2). The Top 100 combined all aspects of a single's performance (sales, airplay and jukebox activity), based on
15376-600: Was then incorporated into the equation that compiles the Hot 100, and this was expanded to a broader Streaming Songs chart in January 2013. In February 2013, U.S. views for a song on YouTube were added to the Hot 100 formula. " Harlem Shake " was the first song to reach number one after the changes were made. In July 2020, Billboard announced that they would no longer allow sales of physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales. This refers to songs being bought along with merchandise , either from an artists website or through another vendor. The magazine stated that this
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