The Midas touch
By way of follow-up, I thought I’d talk to Midas’s manager about the band’s expulsion from the charts. Here’s what he had to say…
David Kuczora runs Midlands-based Melting Ice Management, and is responsible for pop/rock band Midas who were kicked out of the UK charts last week for ‘hyping’.
We can argue the ins and outs of the charts and how valuable they are to the acts who appear on them — but while we do that, I thought it’d also be interesting to get David’s take on what happened.
How did Midas get into the charts?
Midas got into the charts the same way anyone else does – by selling enough chart eligible CDs and digital tracks. The band also made extensive use of pre-ordering, which allows fans to pay for a copy of the song before it’s available on general release.
What’s the relationship between mobile delivery of music and live performance?
Midas have been touring a lot of big gigs recently with the Shiny Toy Guns from LA, and whenever Midas play a show with them they are always sold out. They found they could generate about 100 SMS sales a night at a good gig.
This really worked for a lot of fans who were under 18 – more than often they don’t have credit or debit songs, but all 14 year olds have a mobile phone. In this respect, the live performance became a great place for people to buy the music. It’s an impulse purchase thing, the same way that a fan might buy a t-shirt, badge or pen off the merch stand.
How did the prepaid SIM cards work?
Early in the campaign 7digital contacted us to tell us that about 200 of the people who had pre-ordered via SMS didn’t actually have enough credit on their mobile phone to complete the transaction.
We came up with the idea of taking some mobile phone SIM cards to gigs, pre-loaded with credit, so that fans who wanted buy the track but didn’t have enough credit on their phone could snap in a SIM card with enough credit on to purchase the tracks available.
It took out all the hassle of fans being able to order the tracks – they wouldn’t have to worry about topping up their phone to make the purchase, or whether they’d have enough credit left to call their parents to pick them up after gig. They could hand over a fiver, text the various codes depending on what tracks they wanted, and not worry about the credit on their phone.
What other strategies have you used?
Sales strategies have only been one part of the campaign, and a good way to make some money for the band. The campaign as a whole was much broader, and has been a combination of traditional promotional activity and new media promotion.
We’ve been working to plug the single to radio, TV and magazines in the same way any other label would do and have been picking up more reviews and airplay than when we did the first single.
We had a great support team of professionals who took our records to DJs, journalists, producers and so on. Can a new band get a face-to-face meeting with Zane Lowe to talk up their record? No, they can’t. One of the most important things for a new band who are trying to get exposure is feedback from “tastemakers†in the industry.
There are times when a record may not get played on air or reviewed in a magazine, but someone might give some really constructive comments that the band can take on board. You just don’t get that if you stick a CD in an envelope to someone and hope it might get listened to.
A key benefit of having a team doing some of the more specialist jobs like radio promotion is that the band then have a lot of time to concentrate on talking to the people who really matter, and that’s the fans. They can spend far more time on Myspace, Facebook, Bebo et al actually interacting directly with people.
I know a lot of bands think that sending out bulk comments or messages using automated tools will make people take notice. Well, it won’t.
The individual band members from Midas have spent a lot of time actually talking to people, and striking up a genuine friendship with them. This is the only way that you will persuade people to get off their computers and actually come to gigs and support the band in real life. That’s the acid test for me.
But it’s essential it’s the band doing it themselves, and Midas have worked hard on that.
How many people paid money for the single?
The honest answer is that we have no way of knowing. We are provided with sales reports from the retailers which give us a cumulative figure, but we never know actually who has bought it. We don’t get to see any of the customer data as it would be against the Data Protection Act 1998.
Digital retailers like 7digital run automated checks on their data before submitting it to the charts to verify that all sales that go into the data for the chart come from unique customers. This is based on payment information, which means they check the sales come from different credit cards, Paypal accounts or mobile phone numbers and ensures there are no instances where, say, somebody has tried to order from the same phone 20 times.
In that respect, we know that 2,415 sales were recorded in the midweek chart data issued by the OCC on Tuesday 21st August, which included CD sales and digital sales. 7digital have confirmed the sales submitted by them passed all their automated checks to ensure that they were purchases from individual customers.
Why were you kicked out of the charts?
Millward Brown, who are the market research company who compile the charts on behalf of the OCC, requested a manual breakdown of all our sales data. They spotted that a number of the sales came from consecutive phone numbers, because of our strategy of selling the SIM cards at gigs.
There is nothing specific against this in the chart rules, and the sales were still made through a chart-eligible retailer.
What shocked us most was their decision to discount all our sales from the chart, not just the sales they were concerned about. There were still a large number of purchases which weren’t made on SIM cards supplied by us, which should have been carried through to the chart. In that respect, their decision lacked any sense of proportionality.
What is hyping?
To quote the chart rules verbatim, it’s any activity “designed to distort, or which has the effect of distorting the Chart by achieving a higher or lower Chart position for a record than it would otherwise achieveâ€Â.
That sounds very strict, but is it really? Let’s go back to 1995, when Blur and Oasis were competing to get to number one with their new singles. It’s suggested that Blur won because they offered two versions of the CD single with alternative B-sides and live versions, whereas Oasis only had one CD format available.
Ultimately, Blur fans could buy two different products, both of which counted towards the chart as the same song.
Exactly the same thing happens now – record labels discount their products to retailers so they can offer deals like “3 formats for £3â€Â, so in essence you’re offering an incentive for the consumer to buy a record three times rather than once. Why on earth would you buy a CD single for £1.99 when you could get two pretty coloured 7†vinyl’s with it for an extra quid?
Will this vinyl ever get played, or do people see them as collectables? Who knows? The main thing is, the record label are succeeding in getting one consumer to buy it 3 times, so you’re tripling your sales effectively.
That’s probably “distorting the Chart by achieving a higher Chart position for a record than it would otherwise achieveâ€Â, but it’s still allowed.
Why do you think that stacking up the prepaid downloads in advance is NOT hyping?
It probably is hyping, but at the moment it’s allowed by the chart rules, and we’d be crazy not to take advantage of it.
The rules are probably far more relevant where customers are ordering a physical product, and the label needs to know how many CDs to press. The OCC are constantly refining the rules on digital sales as new technologies come into existence, but by the very nature of technology they’ll always be one step behind new developments.
Why is it important to you to be in the charts?
For us it’s another way to show that we can co-ordinate a release with the operational efficiency of labels much bigger and with much more clout because of their market position or reputation.
Now that doesn’t have much impact on the end customer, but the music business is an industry where you need a lot of help from professionals inside constantly have to prioritise what artists and projects they support. Charting is just one more way for Midas to demonstrate that they are a professional act who have a good understanding of how the industry fits together as a whole.
What are you going to do about this?
There’s very little we can do! We were notified very late in the chart week of the OCC’s decision, and they made it very clear that they were exercising their “discretional†power to exclude our release from the charts.
We asked the OCC to disclose the raw data they based their decision on, and so far they’ve ignored that request.
We asked the BPI (who co-own the OCC) to convene the Chart Supervisory Committee to review the OCC’s decision, but were told it wasn’t possible. They’re not interested in an open system of natural justice – basically if the OCC makes a decision then that’s final and you can’t question it or have anyone review it independently.
What advice do you have for independent artists who want to be famous and get in the charts?
Don’t put the carriage before the horse! Fundamentally, you have to be able to write great songs, and Midas do that. They’ve also worked very hard for 4 years to get themselves to the position they are now, and are working harder than ever.
If you want to be famous, then go on Big Brother or date a supermodel. If you want a career in music, get the basics right and work hard for literally years and you may stand a chance of getting there eventually.
As for the charts, they should be a small part of your overall strategy, and certainly not your primary focus.
19 Comments. Write a comment or link to this post
Peter Rabbit
Is there any proof of this “selling sim cards at gigs”
It sounds to me like they were obviously buying the simcards, downloading the songs themselves and then came up with this ridiculous idea when they got caught.
Ive asked a few people who went to their gigs and no one has heard of this.
“As for the charts, they should be a small part of your overall strategy, and certainly not your primary focus.”
Was this statement meant to be ironic?
Sep 3rd, 2007
Sophie Smith
I suppose it depends on who you ask, doesn’t it “Peter”. I know for a fact that I was at a Shiny Toy Guns gig they were playing at, and they came round the crowd with a mailing list and fliers afterwards, and asked if I wanted to buy a sim card. I don’t think it was particularly advertised. Innocent until proven guilty, eh “Peter”? Is there any proof you’ve been to a gig?
Sep 3rd, 2007
Pete Ashton
“Now that doesn’t have much impact on the end customer, but the music business is an industry where you need a lot of help from professionals inside constantly have to prioritise what artists and projects they support. Charting is just one more way for Midas to demonstrate that they are a professional act who have a good understanding of how the industry fits together as a whole. ”
That’s pretty much my point from the other post made much clearer and in one paragraph.
As for Mr Rabbit, the state of the singles charts means they probably didn’t need to sell loads of these SIM cards to make a difference. And as for proof, maybe you weren’t talking to the target market? I know I don’t hang with the 14 year olds at gigs. It’s sort of unseemly.
Sep 3rd, 2007
Eddie Johnston
Mr Rabbit, I too got a sim card from the band – they told everyone during the set that people should visit their indiestore site or text a number to get Redshoes – I did not get the number to text so saw them after and was happy to get a preloaded SIM card as I was not sure if I had enough credit – I thought it a brilliant way to support the band who I had watched for the first time and was very impressed.
Red Shoes is a great track and I love Don’ Dance too but for me Capatin Kirk was the best.
I also tried to get a CD at HMV but they had none left
Sep 3rd, 2007
mikhail alexandrovich
More popcorn please
Sep 4th, 2007
James
Once again, someone trying to think outside the box is penalised.
Hopefully Midas get enough free press out of this incident that some good will come of the situation. I happened to catch them live a few months ago and thought they were pretty impressive.
Sep 4th, 2007
The Judge
People who hype the charts deserve to be kicked out of the weeks stats. This is the second time Midas have done this so its great to see natural justice at work. Lets hope the manager will stop throwing his dummy out of the pram and do the job properly like every other label in the country. Well done OCC for picking up this and not giving in to people who think they can buy their way into the charts. David you are looking like an idiot in front of the music industry and it would not suprise me if nobody takes you seriously after all this.
Sep 4th, 2007
Ant
Bit of a sweeping statement and I am sure the OCC would have spotted anything strange first time around too, so I can not see how this comment can be taken seriously. As for anyone taking David seriously from what I have read on the subject he seems to have made very clear and has been totally open. You are perhaps being a tad selective with the facts.
Obviously your opinion is not shared by everyone including those lucky enough to be at the HMV In Store Launch.
It remains to be seen if David or Gary (melting Ice) are taken seriously…but when all is said and done its the quality / popularity of the music that counts and I guess people turning up and paying money to see the band counts for something? To date Midas get a tick in these boxes and clearly working very hard to convert these to sales; lets not forget they have no big money behind them no add campaign no label and all the associated hype. These guys play the sytem and buy their way into the charts but OCC seem content to let them.
This time around although not play listed by Kerrang Red Shoes has received far more radio play up and down the country so that must count for something?
Not sure if Judge has seen the band I would be very interested to listen to their views after seeing and hearing them live.
Sep 5th, 2007
The Judge
Now lets see who lives in a place like this:
1. 90% of sales came from sequential mobile phone numbers. (Are there any real fans out there… oh yes 10%).
2. Less than only 1.5% of the 90% sales redeemed. Understandable that people wouldn’t want to keep listening to emo trash.
3. Witnesses stating multiple copies purchased at HMV’s.
Yes your right, it is the cheating untalented band Midas who need to get some genuine fans and not waste money hyping. Getting persanlity implants would be much more useful to these guys.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. I doubt these guys could ever chart with genuine sales and they deserve all the bad press they get.
Sep 6th, 2007
Pete Ashton
Judge,
There’s a general rule when quoting facts and figures that you back them up. It’s sometimes known as “citation”. This is done to make your facts and figures actually useful rather than mere heresay.
I am no fan of the band, just an impartial and interested observer. Right now the Midas folks have the balance of my sympathies. You need to do a bit more to even get close to them in that regard.
Gimme the evidence. Innocent until proven and all that.
Sep 6th, 2007
Jon Perkins
In today’s Birmingham Post, an OCC spokeswoman states that the sales in question DID come from “SIM cards sold to fans by the band.”
The OCC does not accuse Midas of attempting to hype the charts, but instead states their decision was made on the basis that they had “no sight of the original transaction.”
Sep 6th, 2007
Craig
The wild west nature of digital music means that this sort of thing will continue to happen until all loopholes are closed. The loopholes will get closed, one-by-one, after others like Midas have tried variations on this sort stunt in the first place. Ho-hum.
The charts are meant to be a weekly representation of what is popular, so stockpiling sales over a longer period of time longer than a week does therefore fudge the lines somewhat. However, the current OCC rules DO allow you to count digital pre-sales and (the last time I checked) DON’T set a time limit on that pre-sale period. They are therefore inviting people to try such stunts, so you can’t really fault Midas’ management for giving it a whirl.
Incidentally, Elton John got away with a similar scam around 18 months ago whereby punters were invited to buy a lottery ticket in order to win a chance to meet Elton, and by purchasing the ticket also ‘bought’ a download. Elton went to Number 1 unchallenged and presumably the 6 runners-up got to meet Elton twice! Boom-tish.
My advice to Midas would be to milk this free publicity for all it is worth as it’s probably more valuable to them.
They are (with respect) a totally unknown band who are getting talked/written about on the knitting circles of the interweb. This is surely better than spending 7 days in the top 40 and then dropping off the radar completely…which is what would have happened with their single.
I’d never heard of them before this story broke, but I have now, and presumably so have lots of other people. I’d say that was job done. I may even listen to their tunes!
As an aside, I disagree with the growing notion that the singles chart is an irrelevance…but that’s another story and, in any case, I like POP!
Good luck to Midas in the future.
Sep 7th, 2007
Peter Rabbit
Firstly, the figures ARE correct and it was published in Music Week that 90% of the sales were from consecutivesim cards.
Instead of walking away from this they have annoyed pretty much every music exec out there with their naive and ridiculous cover up story about “selling sim cards at gigs”
They then turned on the music industry for excluding them for their cheating.
YES, more people have heard of them , and maybe some people are impressed by a band with no fanbase, a fake music counter on their myspace and a shed load of sim cards.
Things spread fast and no one likes a cheat.
The industry boards are peppered with people laughing at them , and their management.
They could have avoided this whole thing by just quietly leaving it, but no!
I dont know who your manager he is, but he clearly belongs more in panto than he does in music.
Sep 8th, 2007
Tony
Are those SIM figures quoted by OCC correct and do they give the full story? I think highly unlikley:
1. 16 week preorder period – usual flurry of activity the first few weeks from family and core fans, buying mainly via credit / debit card option and texts from a number of phones numbers
2. SIM option introduced for just last 3 week period = 90% of total sales – I think not, even Midas could muster a few more than 200 sales in 13 weeks? They sold 1000 CDs last time around from a variety of outlets.
3. High unlikley that a store full of people were all planted by the band…with people unable to get to the launch its highly likely and quite common for people to by more than one copy of what was after all a limited run of just 500.
4. As soon as Midas were advised of a problem the SIM card option was stopped by the band – despite 2 more sold out gigs during the week of release.
I can understand the OCC and Mill’Brown asking questions but on balance they have not in my view taken all factors into account – how could they it was a last minute call?
I suspect the sample check made targeted a very narrow period that would not providea true picture of events?
The findings in isolation and Peters comments are understood but make for the reasons mentioned absolutely no sense – no matter what gets printed in the press?
Just my balance view looking at the big picture and factoring the bands very real and easily tracked populariy……Little Civic Wolves/ Rock Cafe Gis sold out and of course MUSIC WEEKLY FEATURE ON BIRMINGHAM MUSIC listing midas as one of the few bands to fill the small -medium (BarFly) makes these figures and 90% claim plain silly?
The Music week – a couple of weeks ealier had praised the band for their innovation.
Sep 8th, 2007
Nat JM
I don’t read Music Weekly so i’m not sure whether the 90% figure quoted is correct, but i agree with Tony’s point 1 & 2.
However, even if it’s only 50% of the sales, i understand why OCC would disqualify them.
It seems to me that a lot of people are lying or hyping the truth to get their point across and as usual, it’s hard to get down to the truth in the music industry.
Midas’ next move will show what they are made of. Either they soldier on with touring or they try to sell their story to The Sun.
Also, when/what was the first incident The Judge is referring to?
Sep 10th, 2007
aimee
you’re all harsh. midas do work really hard and are an amazin band and you can only really have an opinion if youve met them and seen them live!
so yea you’re all massive weirdos
midas are amazin x
Mar 27th, 2008
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