Via NOTCOT, from Very Small Array:
Visual comparisons between Billboard's "Top 100 Hits of 2008" and Pitchfork's "Top 100 Tracks of 2008."
Click to see images in full.
Beyond the fact that I just like graphs, I thought it was interesting. Bitch about Pitchfork though we will, maybe it's time we give 'em some credit for recognizing such a broad spectrum of musical genres?
2009-02-02
Billboard v. Pitchfork
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8 comments:
That's fascinating. Although I'm not too surprised. Did you know that the highest selling album of 2008 (Tha Carter III) is also the least selling number one album of all time (under 3 million copies sold). The former station manager for KEXP told me that he believed the future of music lay in the indie labels. He provided solid analysis that predicted a sharp increase in indie releases and, when done well and released and marketed correctly, somewhat profitable releases as well.
This is pornography for someone who regularly asks new acquaintances how they feel about Venn Diagrams and judges their strength of character by their response. Someone, say, like me.
for the record, i've never bitched about pitchfork, just sometimes the people who treat it like the bible of indie rock.
but i guess the record might exclude a few drunken tirades that i may or may not remember.
anyway pitchfork has been my homepage for at least six years now, i'm a junkie......
maybe that's why i moved to chicago where it's based......
Eric: I think this is the whole, "Does downloading really affect album sales?" argument. Which, I mean, seriously, has to... Between downloading and the sheer quantity of music available, being a 'high selling artist' will never mean what it used to mean. None of what I just said makes any sense... Eh.
Ryan: Oh, I know.
Jon: I bitch about Pitchfork. All the time. But I still listen to (and enjoy) what they tell me to listen to, or at least check out what they recommend.
I agree completely with the point about music downloads. I would love to be able to buy every album I enjoy if only to fiscally support the artist, but the fact of the matter is, I, like so many other people our age, am broke as hell. I know that artists of all mediums should make money for their work, and I only hope that there are more people out there like me who will buy a hard copy of their favorite artist's work despite having already downloaded it. I can't preach one way, or the other, but I do agree that record sales will never again be an accurate method of rating raw popularity.
End rant.
i like music.
ryan:
you bought portishead's new album 7 times, so we know you try your hardest to support the music industry........
Dallas, indicators show that, in fact, downloads are growing at an exponential rate each year. The issue with "album" sales is that people are grabbing for individual tracks as opposed to buying albums as an entire entity. Further destroying the art of music as we know it.
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