After a lively campaign for the Christmas Number One, Shinny has decided to have another shot at the charts, while passing on the lessons he has learned to other Salford musicians. And the huge online group that was created for his festive release will now focus on promoting local music.
The Facebook group has now become SHINNy'S RECORDs -The People's Label, with the first release one of his own tracks for Valentine's Day called Took You For Granted.
With practically zero airplay and no sign of his video anywhere near music television, Shinny's Christmas No.1 still managed to peak at number 24 in the run up to Christmas. Even local television and radio were reluctant to give due airtime to a great local interest story with a ready-made audience.
The majority of awareness around the track was generated by Shinny's massive online community. Far from being disheartened, the experience of feeling short-changed by the major corporations has made Shinny even more driven... "We learned from it and want to give more everyday people a platform" he says "It has made me more determined to slap them in the face. I've got an axe to grind with the establishment."
The festive chart was a prudent reminder of how impenetrable the industry can be to outsiders. The majority of chart hits were provided by three major record labels (only three of the Top 50 was not from the Universal, Warner or Sony). Given that the major labels have a business relationship with the media groups that own the stations, difficulties often arise for acts that are not affiliated.
This prompted an aggrieved Shinny to protest at Media City (see previous Salford Star article – click here) Now he is keen to take them on with his own alternative label.
"Streaming has become huge and counts toward chart positioning" Gemma Fish from The People's Label elaborates. The charts now acknowledge streaming, with 100 streams counting as a sale. Therefore, if a track isn't heard on the radio and the artist is unsigned, it can't gain the necessary streams to challenge the bigger acts.
This meant that Christmas No.1 fell away in the final few days before Christmas. With this in mind, The People's Label is making sure their first release can be streamed. Took You For Granted is already on Spotify due to it featuring on an already released album.
It's a great tune from Shinny's back catalogue that centres on letting loved ones down. As you might expect, it's not a traditional ballad. It should make a refreshing Valentine's hit, and help to get the label off to a flying start.
SHINNy'S RECORDs is now aiming to use its sizeable online group to give a voice to local acts and allow them a fighting chance of gaining attention and getting noticed by a wider audience. Hopefully, this will lead to a breakthrough act coming from our own doorstep and gate-crashing the party in a way similar to Arctic Monkeys over ten years ago.
Took You For granted can be streamed now on Spotify – click here
Took You for Granted by Shinny is released on SHINNy'S RECORD's -The People's Label on February 10th
It costs 99p to download from Amazon – click here
iTunes – click here
Google Play – click here
If you are in a band or are a musician SHINNy'S RECORD's -The People's Label want to hear from you. Contact them via the Facebook group – click here
Words by Ian Leslie
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