ARIA To Introduce Australian Streaming Music Chart

We hate to say we told you so, but….

Last week, Tone Deaf reported on the launch of a streaming chart in the UK to rank music streamed from services like Spotify, Napster and Deezer, and how Australia’s own ARIA charts was severely behind industry standards when it came to ranking the true popularity of music.

The streaming chart, launched by the Official Charts Company (UCC), was the first of its kind to rank “audio streams from both ad-funded and subscription streaming services in the UK, to reflect the growing interest in this new generation of music services.”

Today, ARIA has told TheMusic that they are bringing their own rankings up to speed, chiefly due to yesterday’s launch of Spotify in Australia.

The audio streaming service, set up by brothers Ek and Martin Lorentzon in 2008, has become an industry leader and household name across Europe and North America, and ARIA plans to follow in the OCC’s footsteps in recognising the shift in the music industry landscape. “As the year progresses, we look forward to an official streaming chart joining our extensive list of weekly ARIA Charts,” said CEO Dan Rosen, speaking to TheMusic.

“As streaming services enter the local market,” he added, “we are working with the providers to get the data necessary to begin producing a weekly Streaming Chart.”

Renee Chambers, head of Spotify’s Label Relations, was only too keen to respond, “we’re willing and able to provide data to ARIA.” Chambers also adding “we were very much on board with the OCC streaming chart launch recently in the UK.”

It’s a move that’s mutually beneficial for both parties. For ARIA, it represents a conscious effort by the record charts body to update its policies, which calculates its rankings based on out-dated – and slightly inaccurate – methods.

For Spotify, it helps assert their dominance in the Australian market, hot on the heels of rival services, like Rdio and JB HiFi’s NOW service’ as well as beating out Telstra who have partnered with MOG and plan on launching in a few months.

ARIA’s Rosen also discussed the possibility of his company producing an app for the digital music platform, “where music fans can access the ARIA Charts each week, including the Top 20 Australian Singles and Albums Charts.”

If you haven’t joined the digital revolution yet (or you’re just wondering why all these playlists are popping up in your Facebook feed), you can check out more about the free music service with the snappy promo video below: