The Italian Music Charts Will Include Free Streaming in 2024
FIMI, the main association of record companies in the country and the publisher of the official charts, announced it during Milano Music Week
Ph. Dushawn Jovic / Unsplash
Starting from January 2024, the official Italian music charts published by FIMI/GfK will include free streaming, both audio and video (like YouTube). It was officially announced on Thursday, November 23, during a meeting with the press in the context of Milano Music Week 2023.
The new Italian music charts
As Vincenzo Mastrofilippo (Sub-Lead Market Insights of GfK) points out, free and premium streams will not have the same weight. They will be based on a ratio of 7:1, which means that one premium stream will weigh as much as seven free streams. Such ratio is «calculated on the basis of the real value generated for the industry in the Italian market», explains Mastrofilippo. «This indicator will be constantly monitored and periodically reviewed».
Only official content published by artists and record companies will be considered. A daily stream cap will be observed (with a maximum threshold that varies based on the anti-fraud criteria of each platform). Listening durations of less than 30 seconds and advertisements will be excluded.
Thresholds for gold and platinum certifications of albums and singles will remain unchanged (25,000 and 50,000 units respectively for gold, and double those figures for platinum).
The Top 100 Albums & Compilation chart will include free audio streams, the Top 100 Singles will include both audio and video free streams, while the current Top 20 Vinyl will also include other physical formats (CDs and cassettes).
The first Italian music charts with the new methodology will be published on Friday, January 5.
Enzo Mazza, CEO of FIMI
“Why did we decide to include free streaming? Because consumption habits have changed,” explains Enzo Mazza, CEO of FIMI. “Today we have almost 6 million people in Italy who have a premium subscription, which for a market like the Italian one (which for years has had very high levels of piracy) is a really remarkable figure, with further perspectives of growth. Furthermore, IFPI’s ‘Engaging with Music’ report shows that YouTube remains the leading platform for accessing music in Italy.”
He continues: “The market continued to grow in the first nine months of 2023. Today we take this new leap. Together with the United Kingdom, we are the only country that publishes its methodology online.”
When will it be the right time to include TikTok in the Italian music charts? “This ‘Economic Weighting Model’ is simple and scalable,” explains Mazza. “When it is decided at an international level to also consider other platforms, such model will just adapt to that. The evaluation concerns not only TikTok but also YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, all of which have a significant impact on the revenues of record companies.”
