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NEAR TRUTHS: OF MICE AND MEDIA
Welcome to the Mouse House. (11/4a)
NEAR TRUTHS:
BLUSH OF FAME
We'll drink to that. (11/1a)
HITS LIST: A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
Strap in for the roller-coaster ride. (11/4a)
HOLLY GLEASON SNAGS SIX NATIONAL A&E JOURNO NOMS
Oops, she did it again. (10/30a)
TYLER IS HEADED TO THE TOP
Unconventional move by unconventional dude is paying off. (10/30a)
THE GRAMMY SHORT LIST
Who's already a lock?
COUNTRY'S NEWEST DISRUPTOR
Three chords and some truth you may not be ready for.
AI IS ALREADY EATING YOUR LUNCH
The kids can tell the difference... for now.
ALL THE WAY LIVE
The players, the tours, the enormous beers.
Blighty Beat
VINYL SHORTAGE CRUSHING INDIE SECTOR ON THE CHARTS
3/1/22

Independent acts and labels in the U.K. are missing out on chart positions thanks to delays at vinyl pressing plants. Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde has issued a call to remedy the situation.

In a post on Facebook, Raymonde said that the current charts aren’t a fair reflection of what’s going on sales-wise. He said that while major labels can “jump the queue at pressing plants,” independent artists and labels cannot, which is resulting in split release dates with digital arriving first and physical later.

This, he said, significantly harms their chances of achieving a high chart position and subsequent opportunities as a result. “As the charts will only count for what is sold once shipped rather than what is preordered, the independent artist who ordinarily might well chart in the Top 10 due to combined digital and physical sales will now have no chance,” Raymonde wrote.

The label boss said that chart companies should allow vinyl preorder numbers to count as sales on the week of release, which would “make a difference to many aspects of an album’s impact.”

“Right now, the mess that surrounds physical production is adversely affecting many of those artists who cannot, through no fault of their own, jump to the front of the queue when pressing their vinyl.”