ARIA announces launch of Australia’s official Digital Track Chart

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has set a date to publish the initial Motorola ARIA Digital Track Chart - 9 April 2006.

This eagerly awaited chart will be calculated from sales data submitted by major online music providers such as Apple iTunes, BigPond Music, destra Music, ninemsn Music and Soundbuzz, as well as key retailers such as Ripit, Leading Edge and JB Hi Fi (find attached a complete list of digital sales outlets.) The Motorola ARIA Digital Track Chart is the only digital chart in Australia to aggregate sales from a variety of online music providers and provides the only authoritative guide to the highest selling tracks each week.

The digital sales market accounted for $8,000,000 revenue to the industry during 2005, or around 1.5% of the overall wholesale market, as reported in the annual wholesale statistics released earlier this week. 34% of that revenue was generated during November and December, following the local launch of the Apple iTunes music store.

Denis Handlin AM, ARIA Chairman and Chairman and CEO, SONY BMG Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand, highlighted the industry’s excitement at being able to provide the public with a gauge of the country’s most popular digital tracks.

“The introduction of any new music chart by ARIA is significant, and the result of a desire to reflect growing consumer trends. The digital music market has now clearly grown to the point where an official sales chart is warranted. We’re all keen to see how this market develops over the coming months and years and this chart will be a significant indication of the growth of that market”.

John O’Donnell, ARIA Chart and Marketing Committee Chairman and Managing Director, EMI Music Australia, emphasised ARIA’s commitment to providing the public with the best music charts. Mr O’Donnell said, “The introduction of a Digital Track Chart strengthens ARIA’s position as the only authoritative music chart in the country. For over 20 years, the ARIA charts have measured the most popular music in Australia via consumer purchases, and it’s now time to offer the same insight into digital sales. Music retailers, both physical and online, are clearly vital partners in the success of the charts and ARIA is grateful for their ongoing support of the charts.”

The ‘c hart week’ for the Motorola ARIA Digital Track Chart will be the same as all charts currently produced by ARIA. It will record the rankings of digital sales occurring from first sale each Saturday morning to last sale Friday night. The first Digital Track Chart, to be published on 9 April 2006, will cover the period from 1 April to 7 April 2006.

The Digital Track Chart will not aggregate different versions of the same song (eg mixes), but will track and display each recording separately so as to truly record what is the most popular digital track. Conceivably the same artist or song could appear multiple times in the chart if they have a number of versions selling well.

The official Motorola ARIA Chart Show, broadcast live every Sunday on NOVA nationally and hosted by Jabba, will feature spins of the Top 10 songs from the Digital Track Chart as part of the overall countdown. Jabba exhibited his trademark enthusiasm for the Digital Track Chart today, saying, “This is the coolest addition to ARIA’s music charts – digital track purchases are really important to NOVA’s audience and I’m stoked to be able to report the top charting digital tracks every Sunday.”

ARIA is committed to ensuring that the Motorola ARIA Charts remain the most authoritative charts in the country. The next stage in the evolution of the charts will be the integration of digital sales into the mainstream Motorola ARIA Singles Chart. While there are a number of technical challenges involved in accurately linking physical and online catalogue numbers to ensure a proper representative chart, it is anticipated ARIA will be able to produce an integrated chart sometime during the second half of 2006.

For further Motorola ARIA Chart information:

Nicole Hart
[email protected]
0418 324 312

QUOTES – LAUNCH OF ARIA MOTOROLA DIGITAL TRACK CHART

”Digital downloads are important to our listeners and therefore it is important for Nova and the industry to reflect this in the national charts. We are thrilled with the reaction to the first few months of the chart show and this step is another in its evolution to being the weekly focal point of the local industry.”

Dean Buchanan, dmg Radio Australia Group Program Director

"The ARIA Digital Track Chart is proof that mainstream legal music downloading has come of age in Australia. Having been at 'the birth' of the industry with BigPond Music's launch in January 2004, having recently extended our offering with digital downloads to mobiles and pre-paid vouchers, it's fantastic to see the industry has grown to become a credible player in the music retailing industry. And in the current digital age it will only get bigger and better, with fans being able to download their music to a wide range of platforms and devices."

Justin Milne, BigPond Group Managing Director

“ What ARIA has done truly legitimises the whole concept of digital music. The high level of b roadband usage today by consumers has provided the necessary platform for the success and growth of legitimate online businesses such as ours offering digital music downloads service. We applaud ARIA's move to set up a digital chart."

Domenic Carosa, Destra Corporation Ltd CEO

"Ninemsn is thrilled to be a part of the Motorola ARIA Digital Track Chart. As the number one Australian music portal we're excited to see this major development for digital music downloads, which will remind people there are a lot of fantastic ways to buy the music they love legally in Australia,"

Tracey Hannelly, ninemsn Music Executive Producer

“A digital music chart delivers legitimacy and credibility to a sector of the music industry which globally contributes upwards of six percent to industry revenues and is predicted to contribute up to double that in the coming years. Australian online sales are currently tracking lower than in other markets at 1.5% of revenues, but given we are one of the world’s largest music markets, we can expect to see greater contributions coming from digital music sales. In our view, the ARIA chart is only the first step in measuring the growth of our industry, and we would hope to see mobile music plus video sales included in future charts to ensure they are a true measure of both online and mobile music sales.”

Paul Buchanan, Soundbuzz Australia General Manager