Are you a struggling indie band with rich relatives but don’t have the industry connections to get a record deal? No problem. Here’s a solution. A digital media venture called Chartfixer aims to do just that, by propelling any song into the charts. Basically it’s a cashback system where downloaders will receive a small cut if they buy a particular song from the iTunes Music Store. The way the system works is that an artist or their record company/management pays a fixed sum to Chartfixer based on a sliding scale of how many copies they think they can sell. For $6,000 Chartfixer will crowd-source “downloaders” and get them to buy 1,000 digital copies — which is enough to crack the Top 80 of the ARIA singles chart on an average week. For those with more cash, $30,000 will buy 5,000 sales and potentially a Top 20 position in the ARIA chart.
It’s a pretty simple proposition and it’s got certain sections of the music biz hopping mad. ARIA CEO Stephen Peach has said “ARIA will take all necessary steps to preserve the integrity and accuracy of the ARIA Charts.” The founder of Chartfixer who is remaining anonymous for the time being, has said that ARIA has nothing to fear and that “Chartfixer is not illegal, and though its name may suggest otherwise, Chartfixer does not actually fix or rig the ARIA charts. It is nothing more than another promotional service available to musicians or record labels.” Record label and Tone Deaf whipping boy EMI has already moved to distance itself from one of the campaigns that Chartfixer is currently running, for the Chemical Brothers new single ‘Swoon’. Chartfixer is also running one for Stone Temple Pilots, a Warners act.
The strange thing about all this is the record companies getting all het up about it. They’ve been doing their best to rig the charts for years, and Australia is one of the easiest places to do it because of the small population. The main thing they’re worrying about is another company moving in on their territory.
