VINYL CRISIS HURTING INDIES ON U.K. CHARTS

Independent acts and labels in the U.K. are missing out on chart positions thanks to delays at vinyl pressing plants. Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde has issued a call to remedy the situation.

In a post on Facebook, Raymonde said that the current charts aren’t a fair reflection of what’s going on in sales. He explained that while major labels can “jump the queue at pressing plants,” independent artists and labels cannot, which is resulting in split release dates, with digital arriving first and physical later. This significantly harms indies' chances of achieving a high chart position and any subsequent opportunities.

“As the charts will only count what is sold once shipped, rather than what is pre-ordered, the independent artist who ordinarily might well chart in the Top 10 due to combined digital and physical sales will now have no chance,” Raymonde wrote.

The label boss said that chart companies should allow vinyl pre-order numbers to count as sales on the week of release, which would “make a difference to many aspects of an album’s impact" and added, “Right now, the mess that surrounds physical production is adversely affecting many of those artists who cannot, through no fault of their own, jump to the front of the queue when pressing their vinyl.”