Dutch artists would be on a large scale the charts to manipulate through the use of proxies. In this manner, the artists more popular and more successful seem to be than they are, writes The Telegraph Friday.
The newspaper bases its claims on statements by Maarten Steinkamp, director of CNR. “Increasingly, the Top 100-singlelijst to an utter farce degraded by the frequent purchase of the private product to get a higher position in mindset,” says the director.
Those purchases would be done through specially developed software, which provides online numbers of the conscious artist to be purchased. The number of times a number against payment is downloaded, controls – since the demise of the physical single – the position of a number in the Top 100 positions. According to The Telegraph, the software uses spoofed ip addresses making it seem as if thousands of different people in the song have purchased, although this in practice, go to proxies because using a spoofed ip address, not a transaction can be completed.
Steinkamp, who is also a board member of the NVPI, this is a serious matter. “Even worse is that these practices are openly discussed, and the phenomenon chartmanipulatie completely seems to be accepted.” Jaap Buijs, artiestenmanager of, among others, Jan Smit, Nick and Simon, confirms the story. “The rest has little meaning if you can’t believe. I accept this absolutely and have never worked.”
According to research firm GfK, which has an insight into actual transactieaantallen at various shops, the Top 100 are indeed impressionable. The marktvorser suggests, however, that this of all times is, but now that it has become easier, because there are no singles in the shops longer need to be purchased.
Update, 09.00 – Article clarified with respect to ip spoofing and proxies