STRICTLYEMBARGOEDUNTIL00.0110May2012 ChartinformationquotedfromthisreleasemustbecreditedtotheOfficialChartsCompany;onlineoutlets pleaselinktoOfficialCharts.

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Music streaming will come of age next week when the UK industry comes together to launch the UKs first Official Streaming Chart. The new Top 100 rundown, which will launch on Monday May 14, will be compiled by the Official Charts Company with data from the nations leading streaming services and supported by the Entertainment Retailers Association (Era) and labels association the BPI. The Official Streaming Chart will be the first chart which ranks audio streams from both ad-funded and subscription streaming services in the UK, to reflect the growing interest in this new generation of music services. The first Official Streaming Top 100 will be unveiled at 13:00 hrs on Monday May 14 2012 at OfficialCharts.com. It will also be published weekly in music industry business title Music Week and feature on the streaming services contributing to the chart each week. Like all of the Official Charts Companys rankings, the Official Streaming Chart will be compiled from actual transaction data supplied by members of Era. The popularity of music streaming has grown significantly over the past 12 months. Official Charts Company estimates indicate that 2.6bn audio streams were delivered in the UK last year, while BPI surveys indicate that label revenues from streaming services increased by 30% to 35m in 2011, some 4.5% of total music industry revenues. The UK audio streaming sector has also taken a series of significant steps forward over the past year Spotify has dramatically grown its subscriber base, French-founded service Deezer has launched in the UK, while US streaming giant Rhapsody bought established UK player Napster at the beginning of this year.

To launch the chart, the Official Charts Company has compiled below the Official Streaming Chart most streamed artists of 2012 to date which highlights home-grown Brit singer/songwriter talent Ed Sheeran as the king of streaming in the UK. Ed Sheeran is the runaway leader as most-streamed artist of 2012 so far (up to the end of April). He is followed by Lana Del Rey, David Guetta and Rihanna. Sheerans performance is lead by his tracks Drunk, Lego House and The A Team, which are all among the 20 most-streamed tracks of 2012 to date. The most-streamed track of the year so far is Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye FT Kimbra, ahead of David Guetta FT Sias Titanium and Jessie Js Domino. Ed Sheeran commented, Amazing to hear that I am the most streamed act of 2012. Streaming services and online in general have always been an important way for me to get music out to my fans. A new Official Streaming Chart that recognises another way of enjoying music can only be a good thing.

The brand new Official Streaming Chart is compiled from information contributed by a range of services including Spotify, We7, Napster, Deezer, Zune (X Box Live) and new mobile phone startup ChartsNow. In addition to the launch reporting audio streaming services, the Official Charts Company is also in advanced discussions with key video streaming services to collect their data with the aim of creating a different, standalone video streaming chart. Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot says, This is a true coming-of-age moment for music streaming in the UK. Services such as Spotify, Deezer, Napster and We7 have been building their audiences over the past few years and are now delivering millions of audio streams every week to hundreds of thousands of music fans. For the first time, from next week, we will have transparency on exactly what they are listening to on these new services. BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor says,Streaming is a fantastic way to discover new music and plays an increasingly important role in the UKs music scene. Were delighted that the Official Charts will now reveal the most popular songs streamed every week in the UK. The Official Charts tell the story of British music, and this development keeps that story bang up to date. Era director general Kim Bayley says, The launch of the Official Streaming Chart from data compiled by Era members marks yet another evolution in the way music fans access the music they love and reflects continuing innovation from the retail sector. Not so long ago our members operated solely out of stores; these days they offer music, video and games in a dizzying variety of formats and services. We are delighted to support the Official Streaming Chart. Steve Savoca, Head of Content, Spotify says This is a defining moment in the evolution of digital music as it shows music consumption as a whole. Streaming is a hugely increasingly important part of both discovery and consumption. Having a chart that reflects this allows the industry and the public to get a much better understanding of the full range of music that people are listening to." He added: "Spotify users are discovering a broad range of music, identifying great new emerging artists, such as Labrinth, Emilie Sande, and Gotye, and sharing these discoveries through social networks.

Napster General Manager (Europe) Thorsten Schliesche says, "We're delighted to be one of the initial contributors to the Official Streaming Chart. This recognises the importance of streaming services to UK music fans. Deezer Managing Director UK & Ireland Mark Foster says, "Deezer is delighted to be a part of the Official Streaming Chart. As licensed streaming services like ourselves grow in popularity in the UK, it's only right that the millions of streams our users are generating every week will contribute to this exciting chart evolution." We7 CEO Steve Purdham says, "Music streaming is the real heartbeat of music taste and is coming into its own in the UK. The timing for the Official Streaming Chart launch is perfect to showcase what music fans are listening to from millions of songs. The launch of the Official Streaming Chart importantly comes in the year of the Official Singles Charts 60th anniversary (this coming November) and reflects the continuing evolution of the UKs Official Charts, to reflect the changing consumption habits of UK music fans.

OfficialMostStreamedArtists2012todate(April28) 1 EDSHEERAN 2 LANADELREY 3 DAVIDGUETTA 4 RIHANNA 5 COLDPLAY 6 GOTYE 7 JESSIEJ 8 EMELISANDE 9 FLORENCE&THEMACHINE 10 DRAKE 11 FLORIDA 12 BEYONCE 13 ADELE 14 BENHOWARD 15 SKRILLEX 16 RIZZLEKICKS 17 NICKIMINAJ 18 KATYPERRY 19 OLLYMURS 20 ONEDIRECTION Source:OfficialChartsCompany|www.officialcharts.com
View the UKs first Official Streaming Chart Top 100 from Monday 1300hrs at: www.officialcharts.com Follow the Official Charts at www.twitter.com/officialcharts | www.facebook.com/officialcharts For more information: Contact Lauren Kreisler 07789 886263 | lauren@theofficialcharts.com Official Charts Company have spokespeople available for media comment on this announcement, please get in touch with your requests. Notes for editors Chart information quoted from this release must be credited to the Official Charts Company, online outlets please link to www.officialcharts.com

What is streaming? The music industry defines streaming as the playing of music from an internet-based service, which does not involve the listener acquiring permanent ownership of that music. The two main types of service are: Subscription where a fan pays a weekly, monthly or quarterly fee to stream music from the service without ads. In this instance, some of the tracks may be cached to a computer or device as a tethered download, which can only be listened to while that fan continues to be a subscriber. Ad-funded where a fan is listening to music free on one of the above services, with ads played in between tracks or on the web page from which they are accessing the music. Artwork RGB JPEG: http://www.officialcharts.com/media/75/4775-officialstreamingchartlogorgb.jpg RGB EPS: http://www.officialcharts.com/media/77/4777-officialstreamingchartlogorgb.eps CMYK JPEG: http://www.officialcharts.com/media/74/4774-officialstreamingchartlogocmyk.jpg CMYK EPS: http://www.officialcharts.com/media/76/4776-officialstreamingchartlogocmyk.eps About the Official Charts Company The Official Charts Company are the providers of the UK's only official music and video charts, compiling its charts purely from sales information gathered across all key distribution (or entertainment) channels including all major high street retail chains, independent stores, supermarkets, mail order internet retailers and digital music service providers. This market research sample equates to 99% of the total UK singles market; 98% of the total UK albums market and 90% of the total UK DVD market. The Official Charts Company is a joint venture between record labels' body the BPI and ERA, the Entertainment Retailers Association. The Official Charts Company are responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK's industry standard music charts and industry sales data. About OfficialCharts.com OfficialCharts.com is the all-new destination site of the UKs Official Charts, delivering exclusive breaking chart news, video interviews with the weeks Official Number 1 artist, hot new releases and competitions to over 600,000 of the UKs biggest chart fans. You can access the full Official Singles and Official Albums Chart Top 100, plus official charts for Rock, RnB, Dance, Streaming, and many more. You can also search our historical chart archive from the Access The Archive box on the home page, here you can search the Official Charts Company archive by date, artist, song or album title or keyword.