New UK Indie Charts Announced

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8097972.stm

Two new music charts are to highlight rising alternative artists.

The independent breakers charts will feature acts who are not signed to major labels and who have never reached the mainstream top 20.

The likes of Bon Iver, Friendly Fires, The Horrors and Grizzly Bear are likely to feature when the new charts, for singles and albums, launch on 29 June.

That will coincide with an overhaul for the main independent charts, which were first published in 1978.

Artists who are not signed to the four major record labels will be eligible for the new countdowns.

Previously, the rules let in artists on labels with independent distribution.

Martin Talbot of the Official Charts Company said: "The independent record sector has changed beyond recognition since these charts were initially borne out of the punk/new wave surge of the late 1970s and early '80s.

"This new set of rules is designed to address those changes," he added.

Good idea or not?

A triumphant return to the halcyon days of the late 90s when the indie charts in the NME had Steps at #1 every week. Good work all round.

ha ha pete waterman killed "indie"!

easy to get nostalgic for the halycon eighties days of the indie charts when the smiths had all these number ones distributed by london records on the quiet rough trade but i'd be more prepared to take the new proposal seriously if they were going to include dance, grime, dubstep, bhangra etc. and not just radio 2-friendly white bread geetar stuff. i mean, that new grizzly bear album, wtf? when did they turn into the feeling?

More exposure for Indie acts to the people who would read an Indie chart can only be good for sales.

when the likes of animal collective and grizzly bear can go top 30 in the albums anyway is there any real point to this? most punters probably consider kasabian "indie."

i think i saw somewhere that wiley was in the top ten of this.

i mean, that new grizzly bear album, wtf? when did they turn into the feeling?

Buy some ears dude.

Noone can be as boring or bland as the feeling. Does anybody know anyone sad enough who actually likes them?

HI DERE

midlife crisis

jim the contrary as usual ;)

A couple of the singles I think have sweet tunes, the lyrics are horrible but fuck that. Don't really feel bland as a criticism, that's like wanting everything to be Pig Destroyer or something.

Don't really feel bland as a criticism,

Seem to remember getting into a dust-up with somebody on the Aerial thread years ago about it. Srsly tho, if blowing minds is all you've got to offer as a musician then you're a few decades too late.

The Feeling > Grizzly fucking Bear tbh

I totally understand someone not liking Grizzly Bear, but believing them to be worse than The Feeling is all kinds of RONG.