YouTube views are now more valuable than ever before, as they have been incorporated into Billboard charts. This ought to see musicians take a more serious approach in seeing just how technology does wield a rather strong influence in the future of the music industry. To put it in a nutshell, YouTube views of a song will be placed on the same pedestal as that of digital downloads, physical sales, and streaming, amidst other metrics, in order to make sure just which song will rise up to the top in the US. If one were to apply this sort of metrics retro-actively, does this mean that Psy’s Gangnam Style would come up tops, with over 1 billion views?
Billboard, however, has its own strict rules where YouTube data is concerned, limiting it to “all official videos,” Vevo clips, and user-generated videos which use “authorized audio.” In plain English, legitimately used songs are the only ones to be included in the charts. I am quite sure that many a tech-savvy music enthusiast will finally heave a sigh of relief, as YouTube has turned into a place where more and more folks listen to music.
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