BIG changes at both top and bottom of the 7th YouTube chart
 |
| Lady Leshurr on top; Laura Mvula and the Editors on the foothills. |
A statistical health warning applies: I do this chart on my own, out of curiosity. It's perfectly possible I have missed your act. If so, please tell me and I will instantly rectify matters.
There's some spectacular results to be picked out of this.
Sadly, with the recession biting down hard, local acts at the lower levels of the chart are simply not making as many videos as we've been used to. So a number of stalwart local acts have now dropped off the chart as their works of three years and more fade into the distance. Given that I apply a cut-off figure of ten thousand, we also have a smaller chart than in previous years.
Of course, there's lots of juice to extract from this. But the overpowering trend has been the super-explosive charge from Lady Leshurr, who is building numbers exponentially with a series of regular, cheap and cheerful videos talking/rapping directly to her audience. These generate great audience loyalty. There are parallels with a number of personality YouTube celebrities - it's a very interesting development. This has cost Laura Mvula her pole position, but that is simply because her most-viewed work is now over three years old.
Lady Leshurr smashes it on a micro budget
The main chart
Big Winners by numbers
| Artist | Video 1 | Video 2 | Total | ||
| Lady Leshurr | Queens Speech 3 | Queens Speech 4 | 30,205,923 | ||
| Editors | Sugar | A Ton Of Love | 4,946,304 | ||
| Robert Plant | Rainbow | Little Maggie | 2,119,173 | ||
| Laura Mvula | She (In South Africa) | That's Alright | 2,087,649 | ||
| Peace | Money | Lost On Me | 1,698,456 | ||
| Jacob Banks | Worthy | Grace | 1,593,847 | ||
| UB40 | Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain | - | 1,577,904 | ||
| Swim Deep | One Great Song | She Changes The Weather | 1,537,592 | ||
| Oceans Ate Alaska | Vultures and Sharks | Blood Brothers | 1,415,278 | ||
| Malkit Singh | Desi Beat | Maa | 816,760 | ||
| Electric Swing Circus | Bella Belle | Valentine | 750,519 | ||
| Tom Aspaul | Better By Your Side (with Aeble) | Indiana (Bronze whale remix) | 631,617 | ||
| Mahalia | We The Generation (With Rudimental) | Borrowers | 565,887 | ||
| Mr Switch | DMC Championships 2014 | - | 426,278 | ||
| Napalm Death | Breed To Breathe | How The Years Condemn | 404,280 | ||
| Radio Riddler/Ali Campbell | Purple Rain | - | 350,957 | ||
| Superfood | Mood Bomb | TV | 280,608 | ||
| Jaws | Think Too Much Feel Too Little Little | Be Slowly | 211,911 | ||
| Anaal Nakraath | Idol | - | 206,385 | ||
| Claire Maguire | Paper Thin | Don't Mess Me Around | 186,361 | ||
| Ekkah | Last Chance To Dance | Small Talk | 137,007 | ||
| Swami | Do It Again | Back It Up | 121,258 | ||
| Monkeyneck ft Call Me Unique | Time To Love | Sholow | 99,386 | ||
| God Damn | Heavy Money | Shoe Prints In The Dust | 73,027 | ||
| Stone Foundation | The Way I Want To Live My Life | Beverley | 69,567 | ||
| Scott Matthews | Elusive | 86 Floors from Heaven | 68,712 | ||
| Rebecca Downes | Basement Of My Heart | Messed Up | 58,816 | ||
| Troumaca | The Grace | My Love | 58,082 | ||
| Templeton Pek | Wake Me Up | Slow Burn | 52,574 | ||
| Midnight Bonfires | Lights Out | Exhale | 47,185 | ||
| The Wonder Stuff | Circlesquare | Oh No! | 45,683 | ||
| Broken Witt Rebels | Shake Me Down | All Worn out | 31,270 | ||
| Mistys Big Adventure | Aggression | - | 28,016 | ||
| Lion Art & Friendly Fire Band | Run Away | - | 28,346 | ||
| Under A Banner | Some Stories | Numbers | 24,821 | ||
| The Twang | New Love | 24,655 | |||
| Dumb | Dive | Retina | 22,835 | ||
| Dissident Prophet | Human 2.0 | Like Lightning | 22,285 | ||
| ADO | Play Dead | Waterfall | 21,868 | ||
| Juice | Sugar | Acid Kids | 18,174 | ||
| Jet Pack | Heat Of The Moment | Back To Life | 17,566 | ||
| Matthew Socci | Pour Out On Zion | - | 15,874 | ||
| Victories At Sea | Low | Up | 15,060 | ||
| Dead Sea Skulls | I Wanna Buy A Rolex | Riding High | 14,278 | ||
| Erica Nockalls | Cut Them Out | Goodbye Spider | 13,034 | ||
| Johnny Foreigner | Stop Talking About Ghosts | Le Schwing | 10,315 |
There's lots to pull out of this list, but it's worth singling out Call Me Unique who finally pops into the video chart. The big winner is her collaboration with Monkeyneck. It's another video shot on a micro-budget - somewhere halfway across Europe - but which hits its mark.
The Rules
- West Midlands acts still involved locally only. No tax exiles.
- Real videos. No smartphone fan clips.
- The two most-viewed videos uploaded in the past three years count.
- No live videos unless specifically commissioned.
- Only one version of a song.
- Single songs only.
- Video numbers were totted up at the end of this past week.
Health warning: YouTube numbers wobble.
They are inconsistent. And they can be fiddled. Up at the top of the chart, where the act is established, I don't think it matters much. Down at the bottom of the chart, where funds are tight, it's probably a non-starter too, because fiddling your numbers costs money. However, somewhere in the middle, where potential and dreams starts to turn into something which could be significant, is where there might well be hyping.
Performance indicators
Here's two more charts: first, the acts with the biggest increase in raw numbers over six months
| Act | Increase |
| Lady Leshurr | 26,902,170 |
| Jacob Banks | 1,593,847 |
| Editors | 1,253,098 |
| UB40 | 503,629 |
| Mahalia | 485,713 |
| Oceans Ate Alaska | 389,884 |
| Robert Plant | 274,592 |
| Electric Swing Circus | 194,211 |
| Malkit Singh | 153,829 |
| Tom Aspaul | 106,226 |
Some of these results are startling, for different reasons, and not just because Lady Leshurr has invented a whole new music video model. Editors, Robert Plant and UB40 are continuing to score big through huge ongoing loyal fanbases worldwide. Tom Aspaul guests on a number of dance recordings, and it's a specific remix that has benefited Tom this time around.
The Big Winners by Growth
And now the acts with the biggest relative increase in percentage terms
| Act | Percent |
| Lady Leshurr | 814.29 |
| Mahalia | 605.82 |
| God Damn | 72.51 |
| Superfood | 52.81 |
| Scott Matthews | 50.30 |
| Ekkah | 49.37 |
| UB40 | 46.88 |
| Oceans Ate Alaska | 38.02 |
| Electric Swing Circus | 34.91 |
| Radio Riddler/Ali Campbell | 34.82 |
Props go to Mahalia, who surfs elegantly into the higher reaches of the chart thanks to her work with Rudimental. But look at God Damn, Superfood and Ekkah. Good going!
So - happy analysing. As I have already said, I may have missed something. If I've missed you out, and you think your videos qualify, then jab me virtually in the ribs: email me using the box at the top of the page.
More music business posts on Radio To Go
_______________________________________________________________
Tue 16, 4pm: Big Wheels: Roy & Jaci Davis at Madhouse Rehearsals
Wed 17, 11pm: Live and Local: Steelin the Blues at The Spotted Dog.
Repeated Sat 20, 11am.
Fri 12, 3 pm: Muso Takeover - The Traps
After airing, these can be found on Brum Radio's Mixcloud page.
________________________________________________________________________________
I'd love you to sign up to the mailing list
The Radio To Mailing list is the best way I can keep in touch with you, and you with me. You get a short email, usually on Mondays, with big recent topics, and, once in a while, a special offer or a mailing list exclusive freebie. And I won't pass your address on, promise.
Put your email address in the box below, and you're all set.
No comments:
Post a Comment