June 21, 2009 12:25

Free online streaming music to count towards UK charts

Official Charts Company chief says its only a matter of time

The managing director of the Official Charts Company, which compiles the official UK singles and albums charts, has said that free online music streaming plays are set to be taken into account in terms of chart positions.

Currently the UK singles and albums charts are defined by the amount of physical sales and downloads of tracks sold. They do not take plays from music streaming sites such as We7 and Spotify into account.

Martin Talbot told BBC News that there were no immediate plans to integrate free streaming plays into the charts, but said that it was inevitable that the change would happen considering the rise in popularity of such sites and services.

"I'm sure it [counting free music streaming plays] will come upon us quicker than we might anticipate," he said. "None of us really know when it will happen.

"I think ultimately it's bound to happen. But that could be five years, it could be 10 years, it could be 20 years."

In other chart news, a series of new UK albums and singles charts aimed at aiding independently-released music wil launch from June 29.