March 26, 1998
Courtesy of T. Wai-Poi

The Chart Supervisory Committee, independent of chart compilers Chart Information Network (CIN), has published four rule changes that were decided in a meeting on March 26.

The seven-member CSC consists of representatives from BPI (British Phonographic Industy Ltd.), BARD (British Association of Record Dealers), the BBC, and CIN Ltd.'s owner Millward Brown Ltd. (a subsidiary of United News & Media Plc.).

The four rule changes are:

1.  Reduction of the total number of (different) tracks allowed onto one format from four to three.

2.  Reduction of the total playing time allowed for a format that consists of more than one song from 25 to 20 minutes.

3.  Revocation of the rule-exception allowing up to 40 minutes of mixes of the lead track.

4.  Reduction of the minimum dealer price for CD singles from 2.43 to1.79 pounds.

A CIN spokesman said the rule changes, which will come into effect on July 6, were introduced on request from recording industry representative because it was felt that some bands were being worked too hard to come upwith extra tracks. In order to fulfil contractual obligations, bands haveto deliver up to three `B-side' songs or a large amount of remixes, so that buyers could be offered an incentive to buy the three formats allowed by current chart rules.

The changes will in effect bar large swathes of releases from the singles charts that are currently eligible. Especially bands releasing four-track EPs, like Embarce or Mansun, have expressed their concerns.

Mansun's singer Paul Draper whose four-track `Legacy EP' is scheduled for release on June29, one week before the new rules take effect, told NME the music industry was ``shooting itself in the foot'' with the new ruling. He said:``These rules don't help anyone. In Mansun's case we are in a position where to be eligible for the chart, we can't issue our standard four-track EPs. However we will give the same amount of music but will spread it across three formats.'' Other observers suggest that single sales will decrease in the long run because fans aren't going to buy singles off an album unless they get the extra tracks and that many bands would be inclined to release fewer singles off LPs.

The most serious consequences will be felt, however, in the large dance community which represents up to a third of all singles sold. Unlike mainstream pop or rock acts, dance acts heavily rely on remixes of the lead track and rarely keep releases within the 20 minute rule. That was the actual reason to allow remix-based dance singles an exception from the 20'-rule when first implemented in 1995. Whereas mainstream pop acts regardthe extra tracks just as `fillers', the remixes serve a crucial role in promoting dance records. The new limits will force dance labels to issue more promo copies since the standard chart-eligible releases no longer satisfy the core audience of fans and DJs. Furthermore import 12''singles will be mostly unable to comply with UK rules and disappear from the CIN dance-sales chart.

Records breaching the time-limit are classed as albums and a flood of dance singles can be expected in the artist album charts.The number of 12'' transgressing the existing 40'/one song limit and surfacing in the album charts has very limited. The two most recent examples are Under The Bridge / Lady Mamalade (All Saints) or Got 'Til It's Gone (Janet Jackson).