The October 2024 Chart
The top ten tracks for October 2024 from Wud Records have been published in a new compilation at SoundCloud.
However… there is a certain proviso to all of this. In much the same way as all social media platforms become ever more strangled under ever tighter controls, so too is the data from streaming services more vague and less complete. The quality of data from some platforms has now become somewhat downgraded and we have been forced to calculate the chart this month using a different system. Fortunately it seems to work quite well and gives a good reflection of what has been popular. Thank goodness for the Statistics module at university!
The latest system is based upon general tendencies and trends that have occured over the last calender month as well as some of the specifics, where they are available. These have been amalgamated together to make the new Top Ten. We shall elaborate further with regard to each platform where our music is represented.
Bandcamp Is the Best Platform for Artists
We believe that the stats we see from Bandcamp are perfectly accurate, just as SoundCloud‘s used to be before they decided to downgrade everything to their new and not especially wonderful ‘Insights’.
If you are not yet a member of Bandcamp, we strongly suggest you sign up. Do it now! It’s free to join.
If you are an artist and want to sell your music and merch, there is no better place on the web to do so. If you don’t believe us, check out any search engine to see what other artists have to say. Bandcamp are simply Numero Uno. Finito.
Consider also this. There is always a danger that streaming services might remove music or artists from their platform (e.g. the recent dispute between Universal Music Group and TikTok), or the platform may even cease to exist altogether. When you subscribe, you don’t own any of the music! You’re just renting a bit of bandwidth on their distribution service, most of the revenue from which goes to big corporations rather than the artists you love. It’s a terrible business model for artists and fans alike.
To avoid having the soundtracks to your life erased, we strongly recommend buying physical media and downloads so you can listen to your favourite songs whenever you wish. You know it makes sense.
Whilst several music platforms offer music downloads, they all charge a lot more and take a much bigger percentage of that higher price then Bandcamp does.
This means that you pay more, the band receives less, and a big greedy corporation takes a big old chunk of the money you paid to support the artist all for itself, just because it can. It’s a lose-lose situation, unless you happen to be a big greedy corporation who can rip people off however the fancy takes them.
Buying music from Bandcamp will cost you less and support the artist more. About 80% to 85% of what you spend on Bandcamp goes directly to the artist or their label, and is paid daily. So it’s always a good idea to download from Bandcamp whenever possible as they are the best site for supporting artists. You can even pay more than the asking price for music on Bandcamp if you wish to add a little extra support for the artist.
HearThis
We are considering moving all of our SoundCloud music to HearThis because we rather like the platform, even though it is less than 5% of the size of SoundCloud. Their MD has promised us personally that his company will not ride roughshod over its userbase without any warning at all in attempts to cut costs, and that is rather appealing.
We’ve had plenty of issues and arguments with SoundCloud over many years, such as our disabled messaging for allegedly ‘spamming’ other artists there, who we dared try to inform about being included in a Musical Discoveries compilation. It would have probably been fine if we’d supported a bunch of major hiphop stars, as that is what SC loves best, instead of the multitude of curious and largely undiscovered wonders we try to support.
More news on this will follow in the future.
SoundCloud
In the last few months, SoundCloud have decided, in their seemingly infinite wisdom, to downgrade their excellent ‘Stats’ for premium users (such as ourselves) to something completely and unbelievably dreadful that they call ‘Insights’, which are surprisingly uninsightful despite the profoundly misleading nomenclature.
Somebody at the company thought it would be a good idea to take a system that worked spectacularly well in real time, and replace it with another that is riddled with inconsistancies and errors. One can even observe the data changing right before one’s eyes! Even some of the most basic functions, such as choosing particular date ranges, no longer works properly. Which idiot thought this was a good idea? In our organisation such sabotage wouild mean instant dismissal. “Put your keys on the table and close the door behind you.”
Whilst we do not fully trust the information we get from SoundCloud, we have to concede that there has been an improvement in data quality recently. Perhaps one day the new ‘Insights’ system will even be as good as their ‘Stats’ system was, but we shall have to wait and see.
Why on earth people have to do these things seems utterly bewildering, but there we are. It has been done, and there is nothing we can do, apart from write monthly emails of remonstrations and complaint, pointing out specific errors and inconsistencies within their system, only to receive an AI generated response from a bot that has failed to understand our email and might indeed be answering somebody else’s. Customer service was never really one of SoundCloud‘s strengths.
This is the world we live in today. All social media has been tightened and downgraded and it’s becoming ever harder to use any of the platforms, with ever diminishing rewards for anyone bothering to fritter away their precious time doing so.
Shitify
The data from the Wud Records Snotify for Artists pages covers everybody at that platform on our label. We also use the Snortify data from our distributors CD Baby and Soundrop.
Truth be told, we dislike spotify rather intensely right now. Not only are they tardy regarding supplying their stats, they have also implemented their most hideously egregious policy so far from 1st January 2024.
Spotify have chosen to take all of the revenue generated by any track having under 1000 streams and redistribute that revenue to the people who have the most streams, such as drake, kanye, taylor and so on.
Read about it here: https://blog.discmakers.com/2023/11/spotify-royalty-theft/
This isn’t just theft, it’s an absolute disgrace. Whoever thought this up should be ashamed of themselves and publicly rogered with a wire brush. Size four.
As such, we are considering boycotting spotify entirely. More news on this to come at the end of 2024.
Should our music achieve more than 1000 streams per track, which is highly likely over the course of a whole year, that means we are in effect stealing somebody else’s royalties when we are paid.
Just because a creative person achieves under 1000 streams for a song doesn’t mean we have the right to take their royalties. They probably worked just as hard as we did to make and release their music. They are no less deserving of their royalties than anybody else.
The whole thing is mucky and bad and makes us feel dirty for being paid not just our own royalties, but those of people who were unable to make the cut. This is just so wrong. It’s a proper mess.
Deezer, Tidal, YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, etc.
We are now using data from our distributors for streams on platforms such as YouTube, Deezer and so on when reckoning the monthly charts. Unfortunately the data arrives several days late, so we only use it to extrapolate general trends.
The data for these services filters through to us via our distributors, although we are not very trusting of it. At best we can get a general feel of what is going on across all of the streaming services this way.
In Conclusion…
Previously the algorithm we used gave greatest weight to downloads and reposts, then likes and comments (active engagement) over plays (passive engagement).
If somebody actually pays to download something, they must have liked it! Our artists and ourselves are always very grateful to our supporters in this respect. It genuinely helps keep the fires burning and the wheels turning.
When somebody reposts a track, that gives it the opportunity to be heard by a potential new fan. This is always a tremendous help for creative souls. It enables that track to be discovered and enjoyed by the community of the person doing the sharing, which can generate new fans.
A ‘like’ is nice, but reposts actually helps the artist reach a bigger audience. You create the chance for that to happen. Recommending a song costs you nothing at all and can be a massive help for an independent artist. Why not do it now?
How Did We Calculate The October 2024 Chart?
We have combined the stats from the general trends and tendencies from all of the services mentioned above. Each platform is represented and results from each are weighted and added together. Archive tracks and bonus tracks are ignored. The feedback from people who clearly didn’t listen to the music is now rendered insignificant.
Only you, the listener, can influence our November 2024 chart. So if there is a song you particularly like, keep playing it! Leave a comment, repost it, share it to your social media feeds! Download it from our Bandcamp! Add it to a playlist! It absolutely can make a difference.
Thanks For All Your Help!
Massive thanks go out to everybody who helped to support all of us during October 2024 by listening to, commenting on and reposting our bands’ tracks on SoundCloud, Bandcamp and elsewhere.
All the wonderful fans of our bands who supported us with downloads from Bandcamp are especially appreciated. You genuinely help us keep the fires burning and collectively we thank you for that most graciously. May you be blessed by the gods of rock n roll! :)
We would also like to say a special thank you to all the splendid people on Twitter and BlueSky who have been enjoying and reposting our tracks to their followers. All the support and positive feedback has been incredibly heartwarming for us all. It makes our endeavours here feel worthwhile.
Thank you very much to everyone who bought items from our merch store. Anyone who shares a photo of themselves with their Wud item on social media will receive an extra goody from ourselves once we have seen it and shared the photo on to our community as well.
If you buy something cool from the Flicker merch store, or the Dark Company merch store, we shall also send you an extra goody if you show us a photo of yourself (or friend, or environment) on social media with the item you purchased.
Last and by no means least, we would like to say thank you very much to all of the splendid people who have been buying us coffees at BuyMeACoffee. It’s very kind of you to help us out. All of these things absolutely contribute to ourselves being able to keep going, and spend more time making beautiful music for you to enjoy. It is truly appreciated very much indeed.
Who’s In The October 2024 Top Ten?
Dark Company
Congratulations to Dark Company! They’ve had a very good month across all of the platforms we use, ending with them achieving two songs in our newest monthly chart.
Straight in at number one this month is a brand new entry called Suns Set, the first song to be released from the band’s A for Acronym album. Suns Set is actually the very last song on the first of the three CDs that will make up the full album.
Although Suns Set is still little more than a demo, it is a beautiful song. The feel is classic rock, perhaps a little 80s in style, and like many of Pete’s lyrics, turned out to be rather prophetic. Some of the lead guitar was a prompt for Pete to sing the vocal to, as he had forgotten the melody he originally created when we came to record his voice.
A for Acronym is a triple album that cosists of three separate parts. SNAFU is a loosely ‘rock’ colllection of songs, VSF is a loosely ‘reggae’ collection of songs, and FUBAR is a collection of songs that don’t quite belong in either of the other two categories. More A for Acronym songs will be released soon, along with a new page among Dark Company’s pages at this website.
Dark Company‘s other song on the new chart is re-entry at number nine, and making its first appearance since January 2020. Tip the Rest is a hard rock song oozing classic killer riffs and swagger. It is the first song on Dark Company‘s Bad Habits album.
Tip the Rest has nothing to do with snooker coaching. Instead it is about cutting loose from one’s chains and escaping the bonds that tie somebody to people with restrictive limitations. It is a glorious song of liberation and freedom in the key of A major.
Pok the Bard
We have started to release his Anthology album’s tracks to SoundCloud (as mentioned in this News post) and doing so has made a big impact. Pok has claimed three of the top spots on our new chart.
Down from number one to number two, after two months topping our charts, is Pok’s newest release, Don’t Let It Pass You By. This is such a wonderful cheerful song with a strong positive message. It can bring a smile to the lips of the glummest and most grumpulated miseryguts you know. It would probably help if they like rock music, especially of the hard, classic, blues, country or psychedelic varieties.
Don’t Let It Pass You By may start with a gentle introduction in A major, but then it really kicks in hard when the song proper begins and the key changes to E major. There is plenty of Ibanez Roadstar guitar goodness across the mix, as well as some organ and synth, not to mention the tastiest rhythm section on the planet right now in Maxx and Sven to invigorate your dancing shoes.
Don’t Let It Pass You By is a very historic song, going right back to the early days of Laughing Sun in 1985.
We are very pleased with the latest version of Don’t Let It Pass You By by Pok. There is so much to love about this we recommend you just listen to it yourself, which you can do by clicking here.
Climbing from number seven last month to number four is The Lecher. This was recently remixed and remastered and sounds a whole lot better than it did before.
The Lecher is in the key of E major and shuffles along at a suitably creepy 88 BPM with a 12/8 feel. The song was composed by Pok, who created the riff, and there were likely others involved in its creation as well, such as George, Roy Brimblecombe and Dick White during the days of Achilles Heel, when they were all pupils at The King’s Grammar School, Ottery St Mary, in 1982.
The Lecher was actually inspired by one or more of the teachers at the aforementioned school, which had rather an abundance of beautiful young maidens. Exactly which teacher (-s) would have been the main inspiration for The Lecher is now lost to the mists of time.
The Lecher is a deliciously expressive piece of music that captures, with considerable style, the essence of a lecherous schoolmaster going about his daily business.
Essentially the song is a truly awesome riff and lots of jamming, and the result is just fabulous. It was the first finished and released song for Pok’s Anthology album.
Enjoying an eighth consecutive month on our charts and rising from number nine to this month‘s number five is Wear a Feather in Your Hat by Pok. This awesome song tells a most extraordinary tale about a group of travellers in the USA in the 19th Century and a man with purple skin. This really truly is a musical delight and the tale has the most peculiar twist at the end.
Pok plays three guitar parts on his beautiful Gretsch acoustic – one left, one right and a lead part. The lead part was recorded all in one take, and it was the first take. The man’s skills are often under-rated. Maxx and Sven do a fabulous job with the bass and percussives, as always.
Wear a Feather in Your Hat first appears on the Indeed recording by Laughing Sun. The lyrics even say “You can be a man of Wud or you can go insane!” – which seems a relatively easy choice to make.
We probably ought to add that back in 1985, when Pok wrote Wear a Feather in Your Hat and used the word ‘man’, it was widely understood to mean ‘woman’, and indeed ‘everyone’ as well, in an all-encompassing and friendly way, rather than today’s necessity for lengthy politically correct pronoun conjugations and configuarations.
The Subterraineans
It’s a welcome return to our chart this month for The Subterraineans. Short and Sweet is an amazing, beautiful, wonderful, epic classic rock song. It re-enters for the first time since January 2024 at number three.
A massive favourite for many years, Short and Sweet used to profoundly affect people listening to it whenever The Subterraineans played this song live. Like many of Dean’s songs, it is a rather poignant prophetic prediction of Dean’s ultimate fate and how he felt about his struggles.
Short and Sweet is well over eight minutes long and feels much shorter somehow. Jerry’s bass sounds a bit uncertain at the start, but he always played it that way so he must have had some idea what he was doing!
Dean tragically committed suicide in 1994 by jumping from the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. He was just 29 years old. He received absolutely no professional help from the uk medical or social professions. With a little professional help he would surely still be here with us today. He was a unique and charming character and his passing was a great loss to the world.
As such, we have decided to donate all proceeds of the sale of this EP and its individual tracks, beyond the first euro, to The Samaritans. They do amazing and difficult work, trying to prevent more people jumping to their deaths from that notorious bridge.
Alchemeon
Alchemeon return to the charts after a short sabbatical. Alchemeon were an awesome foursome powered by the phenomenal Iggy on drums, Jim Iz on his copious racks of keys and harmony vocals, Pok on guitar and voice and George on bass. They were an amazing quartet whose progressive/psychedelic/space/cosmic rock sound was something truly special. Sadly the band’s existence was far too short lived, due mainly to Jim’s poor health and Pok’s desire to follow the way of the bard rather than the way of the band member.
September 2021’s chart topper, Alchemeon‘s Castrol GTX a-Go-Go, is a re-entry at this month‘s number six. Besides being a work of insane genius, there is a tremendous backstory behind the composition of Castrol GTX a-Go-Go. You can read it at any of the song’s own web pages, such as on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Explicit Music.
The Bastard Sons of Dennis
The Bastard Sons of Dennis enjoyed a good month on the chart in October 2024, claiming three of the ten possible positions. Two songs come from their fabulous Cosy Lube Turtle album of Blue Oyster Cult covers, the other coming from their equally fabulous Cherry Smoke Empire album of original songs.
Since the studio upgrade early last year, we have been working on improving the sound quality of everything we released in the last few years. Fans of our gruesome twosome can expect some exciting news regarding this album fairly soon. We are waiting on just a single file before making a big announcement.
A progtastic full-band mini-album by the dynamic duo is also in the early stages of finalisation.
Sadly we tend to feel that further recordings of their many remaining Blue Oyster Cult covers seems an unlikely prospect. This is mostly due to “discommunication, disorganisation and general untogetherness”, as the legend who is Paul Bateman once said of them when they were in Rough Terrain.
Then Came the Last Days of May is a re-entry at number seven. This beautiful song tells a true story of how three university friends of Blue Öyster Cult’s guitarist, Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser, were brutally murdered in a drug deal that went horribly and tragically wrong. The version by our dynamic duo adds a twist to the versions heard on Blue Öyster Cult’s eponymous studio album and the live On Your Feet Or On Your Knees album from 1975.
Derek would sing “Now and then a duck” instead of “truck”, which caused fans of the duo to bring toy ducks with them along to live performances. Chuck’s solo is largely based on the live On Your Feet Or On Your Knees version, and his little whistle at the end (which didn’t always come out quite right in a live show) came from the character Tom Good in the uk tv sitcom The Good Life.
Returning to our charts at number eight is a re-entry for The Bastard Sons of Dennis. Seven Screaming Diz-Busters is a highly esoteric and extraordinary piece of progressive rock composition, beautifully interpreted by The Bastard Sons of Dennis. It is a song for which they were well known.
Originally this song was released by Blue Öyster Cult on their 1973 Tyranny and Mutation album. It was big crowd favourite at a live performances by The Bastard Sons of Dennis and you can enjoy watching a video of them playing it live by clicking here.
There is often the surprise of a rather odd song unexpectedly making it onto our charts and this month is no exception. A brand new entry at number ten is part seven of the glorious epic The Furniture/Los Muebles, The Bureau.
The Furniture / Los Muebles is an extraordinary tale, which threads its way through the entirety of the duo’s Cherry Smoke Empire album. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family of fisherfolk from the Asturias region of northern Spain, who lost and then found some of their furniture following a flood.
The Furniture / Los Muebles was released as a single in January 2017. At twelve minutes and seven seconds in length, most record labels would consider it too long to be a single. It didn’t stop us though! For the Cherry Smoke Empire album, the song was split into nine separate parts and a different song can be heard between each part.
* None of our other acts made it onto the October 2024 chart. *
Listening Options
If you prefer to listen right here at the Wud Records website, you will find that it is the new default music player. You will find it on all non band-specific pages at the site, including our Links collection and homepage.
Each of the previous charts also has its own page in the charts section of this website. If you would like to see all our old charts, or for any previous month you are especially interested in, all of them can be accessed easily by clicking here.
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