Chartjackers
Encyclopedia
Chartjackers is a British documentary series, produced by Hat Trick Productions
and commissioned by BBC Switch
. It premièred in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2009 on BBC Two
. The series documented the lives of four teenage video bloggers over the course of ten weeks, as they attempted to write, record and release a pop song, with the goal to "sell an estimated 25,000 singles to achieve their dream of a number one single". The programme ran in real time for a single series of eleven weekly episodes—the first ten documented the events of the project's previous seven days, while the final episode was an extended compilation that summarised all ten weeks.
The Chartjackers single was written entirely through crowdsourcing
, with the song's title, lyrics, melody, singers, band, production, cover art and music video all being solicited from the global online community. The crowdsourcing took the format of the four bloggers posting videos to a dedicated YouTube
channel named "ChartJackersProject", where they asked viewers to suggest various ideas for the final song. After receiving advice from industry experts such as Charlie Simpson
and David
and Carrie Grant
, the completed Chartjackers single, entitled "I've Got Nothing
", was released through the iTunes Store
at the end of the ten-week period on 9 November. The track received mainly negative reviews from music critics and sold approximately 20,000 copies worldwide, which earned it a peak position of Number 36 on the UK Singles Chart
.
Chartjackers garnered a viewing figures peak of almost half a million with its final episode and was critically panned by reviewers—some felt that the programme's idea was ridiculous and doomed from the start. Others felt that the series showed a contempt for music and the general public, and others questioned whether the point of the project was to raise money for charity or for the four bloggers to promote themselves. The show was nominated for a 2010 Broadcast Digital Award in the Best Multi-Platform Project category, but lost out to The Operation...Surgery Live.
. Chartjackers was executively produced by Davenport, Hat Trick's digital department head, who had previously worked on similar cross-platform projects that incorporated both television and online media, such as the video podcast
of Have I Got News For You
and the YouTube-based series Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie. Digital agency Fish in a bottle
was also commissioned to provide creative for the online platforms, such as the YouTube channel and Twitter
page.
and Adam Nichols, the vocalists who sang on the completed Chartjackers single, were cast halfway through the programme's series as part of an audition process and featured in the remainder of the episodes.
—such as a gathering at 93 Feet East
during episode nine and the music video for "I've Got Nothing" during episode seven—various locations featured throughout the series. Vocalist auditions in episode five took place at the Wellfield Working Men's Club in Rochdale
and the single itself was recorded at the University of Wales
in Newport
, South Wales
. During episode nine, some of the team visited the Three Ways School
in Bath, Somerset.
and Alex Day, as they attempted to write, record and release a charity single through crowdsourcing
. The series was shown in real time, with each of the first 10 episodes detailing the events of the previous seven days. On 5 September 2009, one week before the programme's first episode aired, the group announced on the YouTube channel "ChartJackersProject" their intention to release a number one single in their ten-week time frame. A different task would be undertaken each week, so that, by the end of the project, the song would be completed.
The first episode of Chartjackers documented the events of the first week of the project and explained what its ultimate goal was. To generate potential lyrics, viewers were asked each to post one line as a comment to a video on "ChartJackersProject". Viewers posted more than 4,000 comments, from which were selected the winning lines. These lyrics were posted to the Internet the following episode, with the chorus having been composed by YouTube user "blakeisno1" and the repeated phrase "I've Got Nothing" chosen for the song's title. "ChartJackersProject" viewers were then asked to create a melody for the lyrics and submit it in a video response, so that one could be selected for the single.
After a total of 51 melodies had been sent in, the winning entry was chosen from them during episode three. It was also revealed that a band would be put together to perform the Chartjackers single and that any potential members should apply by submitting video auditions. Episode four documented some of the hundreds of auditions that had been sent in—the group reviewed these auditions and selected from them their ten favourites to go through as finalists. These ten finalists performed for the four boys during episode five, where Miranda Chartrand
, a 19-year-old au pair from Stroud, Gloucestershire
, and Adam Nichols, an 18-year-old musician from Essex
, were selected to sing on the official release. During episode six, "I've Got Nothing
" was recorded in Newport
by record producer Marc Dowding, and the group received advice from video director Corin Hardy on how to film the official music video.
Taking Hardy's advice, the music video for "I've Got Nothing" was filmed during the seventh episode of Chartjackers. To begin promoting its release, the team also petitioned 95.8 Capital FM and BBC Radio 1
to try to get the radio coverage for the single, but it was not playlisted and received no airplay. The boys feared that the song would not chart at all, so, during episode eight, they urged viewers to spam
the Twitter feeds of radio DJs who could play the single on their shows. In the next episode, a gathering took place at the music venue 93 Feet East
in London
on 4 November, where the single was performed live for the first time by Chartrand and Nichols. During the tenth episode, "I've Got Nothing" was released online. The midweek charts
placed the single at Number 39, but its sales increased after comedian Stephen Fry
—who provides an outro for McDonnell's YouTube videos—was convinced to promote it on his Twitter profile. Episode eleven, the final compilation episode, revealed on The Radio 1 Chart Show that "I've Got Nothing" had reached Number 36 on the UK Singles Chart, which disappointed the boys.
, who remarked that he felt that the team had "every experience between [them] to actually pull [their aim of reaching number one] off". During the fourth episode, vocal coaches David
and Carrie Grant
offered advice to the group on what criteria to use when judging the submitted video auditions—the following episode, Charlie Simpson
of Fightstar
explained to the boys the differences between releasing music through major and independent labels. During episode six, the team met with Peter Oakley, who spoke about his own chart success as part of The Zimmers
, and Hardy, who advised ways in which the music video could be filmed. The next episode, the group received advice from celebrity stylist Hannah Sandling
, who suggested how Chartrand and Nichols should be styled for the video, and entertainment journalist Rav Singh, who discussed how to get airplay for "I've Got Nothing" through publicity stunts. Chartjackers also featured a video message from indie rock band The Young Knives
, who wished the team success.
and received generally negative reviews. It was misrepresented in an article on The Times
website, which mistook the four boys for a new boy band. Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog said that the project showed a basic "contempt for music" and "the public at large". James Masterton
of Yahoo! Music
called Chartjackers "something of a failure" and its charting "lacklustre". He did not mention it at all in his weekly chart podcast. Neither Reggie Yates
nor Scott Mills
, two of the DJs whose Twitter feeds were spammed during episode eight, were impressed by the way that the Chartjackers team had tried to get their attention.
Similarly negative reviews came from Eammon Forde of Music Week
, who said the decision to release the single without management was "ridiculous" and that the campaign was "doomed", and Pocket-lint, who described the show as a "car crash". In the week of the single's release, Irish television personality Stephen Byrne questioned on his Twitter profile whether the main motivation for the project really was "charity"—British comedian David Bass
agreed with him. The project was quickly overshadowed by a similar, more successful campaign to get "Killing in the Name
" by American metal band Rage Against the Machine
to top the UK Singles Chart for Christmas 2009.
to UK residents for seven days after their initial broadcast. The show was not broadcast outside of the UK and is currently not available on DVD
.
at midnight on 9 November 2009. Each copy was sold for £0.79 in the United Kingdom and $0.99 in the United States. Just under 8,400 copies were downloaded in the UK, giving "I've Got Nothing" a chart placing of Number 36 in the UK Singles Chart. The song sold approximately 20,000 copies worldwide, but did not make the singles chart in any other country.
Like the series from which it originated, "I've Got Nothing" was poorly received by critics. Some called the effort "very bad" and others predicted that it was "unlikely to make much of a top 40 impact". The music video for "I've Got Nothing" featured footage of Chartrand and Nichols singing the song in a London park, along with an actor dressed as Children in Need
mascot Pudsey Bear. This footage, along with clips of viewers miming to the song, was then used to construct the final music video for the single, which McDonnell edited.
"I've Got Nothing" was performed live twice. The first occasion was at the 93 Feet East gathering on 4 November 2009, during the promotion of the single's release. The gathering featured performances from other YouTube users and was headlined by Hawkes. The second occurrence was four days later at Switch Live 2009, an awards show organised by BBC Switch at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, where a performance of "I've Got Nothing" opened the event.
Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
and commissioned by BBC Switch
BBC Switch
BBC Switch was the brand for BBC content aimed at UK teenagers. The brand launched on Saturday 20 October 2007 on BBC Two And ceased broadcasting on Saturday 17 December 2010...
. It premièred in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2009 on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The series documented the lives of four teenage video bloggers over the course of ten weeks, as they attempted to write, record and release a pop song, with the goal to "sell an estimated 25,000 singles to achieve their dream of a number one single". The programme ran in real time for a single series of eleven weekly episodes—the first ten documented the events of the project's previous seven days, while the final episode was an extended compilation that summarised all ten weeks.
The Chartjackers single was written entirely through crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
, with the song's title, lyrics, melody, singers, band, production, cover art and music video all being solicited from the global online community. The crowdsourcing took the format of the four bloggers posting videos to a dedicated YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel named "ChartJackersProject", where they asked viewers to suggest various ideas for the final song. After receiving advice from industry experts such as Charlie Simpson
Charlie Simpson
Charles Robert Simpson , is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was the youngest member of multi BRIT Award-winning band Busted, and is the lead vocalist, guitarist and co-lyricist in alternative rock band Fightstar...
and David
David Grant (singer)
David Grant is an English pop singer and celebrity vocal coach.-Career:Grant became famous in the early 1980s as a member of UK soul/funk duo, Linx, whose biggest hit was Intuition in 1981. He began a solo career in 1983 with the Top 40 hit "Stop and Go"...
and Carrie Grant
Carrie Grant
Carrie Grant is a British vocal coach and session singer. She is best known for her work on the television talent contests Fame Academy, Comic Relief does Fame Academy and Pop Idol, together with her husband and colleague David Grant. She is also personal voice coach to many successful pop stars...
, the completed Chartjackers single, entitled "I've Got Nothing
I've Got Nothing
"I've Got Nothing" is a song released by the participants of the BBC Two documentary series Chartjackers and is credited as such. The track was produced by university student Marc Dowding and its music video was filmed by YouTube user Charlie McDonnell. It was released by the record label Swinging...
", was released through the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
at the end of the ten-week period on 9 November. The track received mainly negative reviews from music critics and sold approximately 20,000 copies worldwide, which earned it a peak position of Number 36 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Chartjackers garnered a viewing figures peak of almost half a million with its final episode and was critically panned by reviewers—some felt that the programme's idea was ridiculous and doomed from the start. Others felt that the series showed a contempt for music and the general public, and others questioned whether the point of the project was to raise money for charity or for the four bloggers to promote themselves. The show was nominated for a 2010 Broadcast Digital Award in the Best Multi-Platform Project category, but lost out to The Operation...Surgery Live.
Concept
Chartjackers was devised in 2009 by Jonathan Davenport and Andy Mettam of the British production company Hat Trick Productions. It was commissioned by Geoffrey Goodwin and Jo Twist of the television brand BBC Switch and featured as part of a season of multi-platform content intended to appeal to teenagers. The show was billed as a "YouTube X Factor" and its main focus was its direct link to that year's Children in Need appealChildren in Need 2009
Children in Need 2009 was a campaign held in the United Kingdom to raise money for Children in Need. It culminated in a live broadcast on BBC One which began on the evening of Friday 20 November and ran through to the morning of Saturday 21 November. The broadcast was hosted by Terry Wogan, Tess...
. Chartjackers was executively produced by Davenport, Hat Trick's digital department head, who had previously worked on similar cross-platform projects that incorporated both television and online media, such as the video podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
of Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
and the YouTube-based series Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie. Digital agency Fish in a bottle
Fish in a bottle
Fish in a Bottle Limited is a creative digital agency based in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom specialising in browser game development , website development and social network design and development...
was also commissioned to provide creative for the online platforms, such as the YouTube channel and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page.
Casting
As a cross-platform project that incorporated YouTube, it was important that the video bloggers cast for the leading team already had a large fanbase—the four boys chosen had a combined YouTube subscriber total of over 200,000. They were selected for their familiarity to young British YouTube viewers and to "act as Pied Pipers to the teen audience". Miranda ChartrandMiranda Chartrand
Miranda Chartrand is a Canadian singer who is currently based in London. Born and raised in Guelph, Ontario, Chartrand studied at the John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute and played on their open girls' rugby team, before moving to the United Kingdom in 2009 to work as an au pair...
and Adam Nichols, the vocalists who sang on the completed Chartjackers single, were cast halfway through the programme's series as part of an audition process and featured in the remainder of the episodes.
Filming locations
Although much of Chartjackers was filmed in and around LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
—such as a gathering at 93 Feet East
93 Feet East
93 Feet East is a live music venue on Brick Lane in East London. It is a conversion of part of the Old Truman Brewery, and plays host to new and established acts. It has a courtyard with a BBQ.-External links:**...
during episode nine and the music video for "I've Got Nothing" during episode seven—various locations featured throughout the series. Vocalist auditions in episode five took place at the Wellfield Working Men's Club in Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
and the single itself was recorded at the University of Wales
University of Wales, Newport
The University of Wales, Newport is a university based in Newport, South Wales. The university has two campuses; Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city and a £35 million campus on the banks of the River Usk in Newport city centre opened in 2011...
in Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
. During episode nine, some of the team visited the Three Ways School
Three Ways School
Three Ways School is a special school in Odd Down, Bath, England.It was created in 2005 from the amalgamation of three special schools in Bath, the Royal United Hospital School, Summerfield School and Lime Grove School, but only moved into its new £12 million, purpose built facilities after they...
in Bath, Somerset.
Series overview
Chartjackers documented the lives of four teenage video bloggers named Johnny Haggart, Jimmy Hill, Charlie McDonnellCharlie McDonnell
Charles Joseph "Charlie" McDonnell is a British vlogger and musician from Bath, Somerset, England. , his YouTube channel, charlieissocoollike, is the most subscribed in the UK...
and Alex Day, as they attempted to write, record and release a charity single through crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
. The series was shown in real time, with each of the first 10 episodes detailing the events of the previous seven days. On 5 September 2009, one week before the programme's first episode aired, the group announced on the YouTube channel "ChartJackersProject" their intention to release a number one single in their ten-week time frame. A different task would be undertaken each week, so that, by the end of the project, the song would be completed.
The first episode of Chartjackers documented the events of the first week of the project and explained what its ultimate goal was. To generate potential lyrics, viewers were asked each to post one line as a comment to a video on "ChartJackersProject". Viewers posted more than 4,000 comments, from which were selected the winning lines. These lyrics were posted to the Internet the following episode, with the chorus having been composed by YouTube user "blakeisno1" and the repeated phrase "I've Got Nothing" chosen for the song's title. "ChartJackersProject" viewers were then asked to create a melody for the lyrics and submit it in a video response, so that one could be selected for the single.
After a total of 51 melodies had been sent in, the winning entry was chosen from them during episode three. It was also revealed that a band would be put together to perform the Chartjackers single and that any potential members should apply by submitting video auditions. Episode four documented some of the hundreds of auditions that had been sent in—the group reviewed these auditions and selected from them their ten favourites to go through as finalists. These ten finalists performed for the four boys during episode five, where Miranda Chartrand
Miranda Chartrand
Miranda Chartrand is a Canadian singer who is currently based in London. Born and raised in Guelph, Ontario, Chartrand studied at the John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute and played on their open girls' rugby team, before moving to the United Kingdom in 2009 to work as an au pair...
, a 19-year-old au pair from Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...
, and Adam Nichols, an 18-year-old musician from Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, were selected to sing on the official release. During episode six, "I've Got Nothing
I've Got Nothing
"I've Got Nothing" is a song released by the participants of the BBC Two documentary series Chartjackers and is credited as such. The track was produced by university student Marc Dowding and its music video was filmed by YouTube user Charlie McDonnell. It was released by the record label Swinging...
" was recorded in Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
by record producer Marc Dowding, and the group received advice from video director Corin Hardy on how to film the official music video.
Taking Hardy's advice, the music video for "I've Got Nothing" was filmed during the seventh episode of Chartjackers. To begin promoting its release, the team also petitioned 95.8 Capital FM and BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
to try to get the radio coverage for the single, but it was not playlisted and received no airplay. The boys feared that the song would not chart at all, so, during episode eight, they urged viewers to spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
the Twitter feeds of radio DJs who could play the single on their shows. In the next episode, a gathering took place at the music venue 93 Feet East
93 Feet East
93 Feet East is a live music venue on Brick Lane in East London. It is a conversion of part of the Old Truman Brewery, and plays host to new and established acts. It has a courtyard with a BBQ.-External links:**...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 4 November, where the single was performed live for the first time by Chartrand and Nichols. During the tenth episode, "I've Got Nothing" was released online. The midweek charts
Midweeks
Midweeks are lists of sales figures for music albums and singles in the United Kingdom during the period between the weekly chart publication on Sundays...
placed the single at Number 39, but its sales increased after comedian Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
—who provides an outro for McDonnell's YouTube videos—was convinced to promote it on his Twitter profile. Episode eleven, the final compilation episode, revealed on The Radio 1 Chart Show that "I've Got Nothing" had reached Number 36 on the UK Singles Chart, which disappointed the boys.
Celebrity guests
Over the course of the series, several figures from both the music and entertainment industry made an appearance on Chartjackers, usually to offer advice or encouragement to the four boys. The first celebrity to feature on the show was former pop star Chesney HawkesChesney Hawkes
Chesney Lee Hawkes , is an English pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. He is best known for his 1991 single "The One and Only", which topped the charts in the UK and reached the Top 10 in the U.S.-Life and career:...
, who remarked that he felt that the team had "every experience between [them] to actually pull [their aim of reaching number one] off". During the fourth episode, vocal coaches David
David Grant (singer)
David Grant is an English pop singer and celebrity vocal coach.-Career:Grant became famous in the early 1980s as a member of UK soul/funk duo, Linx, whose biggest hit was Intuition in 1981. He began a solo career in 1983 with the Top 40 hit "Stop and Go"...
and Carrie Grant
Carrie Grant
Carrie Grant is a British vocal coach and session singer. She is best known for her work on the television talent contests Fame Academy, Comic Relief does Fame Academy and Pop Idol, together with her husband and colleague David Grant. She is also personal voice coach to many successful pop stars...
offered advice to the group on what criteria to use when judging the submitted video auditions—the following episode, Charlie Simpson
Charlie Simpson
Charles Robert Simpson , is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was the youngest member of multi BRIT Award-winning band Busted, and is the lead vocalist, guitarist and co-lyricist in alternative rock band Fightstar...
of Fightstar
Fightstar
Fightstar are an English alternative rock band from London. They formed in 2003 and their lineup comprises lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and vocalist Alex Westaway, bass guitarist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi...
explained to the boys the differences between releasing music through major and independent labels. During episode six, the team met with Peter Oakley, who spoke about his own chart success as part of The Zimmers
The Zimmers
The Zimmers are a British band, thought to have the oldest members of any band in the world. The oldest member claims to have been born in 1906, although some sources indicate he was born in 1913. The former lead singer Alf Carretta died on 29 June 2010, aged 93...
, and Hardy, who advised ways in which the music video could be filmed. The next episode, the group received advice from celebrity stylist Hannah Sandling
Hannah Sandling
Hannah Sandling is an English television presenter, socialite and former model.- Career :She can be seen regularly on the Channel 4 show Richard & Judy as a fashion stylist...
, who suggested how Chartrand and Nichols should be styled for the video, and entertainment journalist Rav Singh, who discussed how to get airplay for "I've Got Nothing" through publicity stunts. Chartjackers also featured a video message from indie rock band The Young Knives
The Young Knives
Young Knives are an English indie rock band from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. The name is based on a misunderstanding of "young knaves", which was found by the band when rummaging through a book....
, who wished the team success.
Critical reception
Critical reaction to Chartjackers was overwhelmingly negative. Although radio stations, newspapers and magazines were all canvassed, the show was largely ignored by the mainstream mediaMainstream media
Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
and received generally negative reviews. It was misrepresented in an article on The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
website, which mistook the four boys for a new boy band. Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog said that the project showed a basic "contempt for music" and "the public at large". James Masterton
James Masterton
James Masterton is a headline columnist for the music website Yahoo! Launch. He writes a weekly column analysing new entries in the UK Singles Chart...
of Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
called Chartjackers "something of a failure" and its charting "lacklustre". He did not mention it at all in his weekly chart podcast. Neither Reggie Yates
Reggie Yates
Reginald "Reggie" Yates is a British actor, television presenter and radio DJ of Ghanaian descent. He went to Central Foundation Boys' School.-Early career:...
nor Scott Mills
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills is a British radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor, best known for presenting The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1...
, two of the DJs whose Twitter feeds were spammed during episode eight, were impressed by the way that the Chartjackers team had tried to get their attention.
Similarly negative reviews came from Eammon Forde of Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
, who said the decision to release the single without management was "ridiculous" and that the campaign was "doomed", and Pocket-lint, who described the show as a "car crash". In the week of the single's release, Irish television personality Stephen Byrne questioned on his Twitter profile whether the main motivation for the project really was "charity"—British comedian David Bass
Daveyboyz
David Bass is a British TV Presenter, writer and filmmaker, based in London, UK. He found his fame through using the video sharing website YouTube...
agreed with him. The project was quickly overshadowed by a similar, more successful campaign to get "Killing in the Name
Killing in the Name
"Killing in the Name" is a song by American rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, featured on their self-titled debut album, and was released as the lead single from the album in November 1992...
" by American metal band Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
to top the UK Singles Chart for Christmas 2009.
Awards
Chartjackers received one nomination at the 2010 Broadcast Digital Awards, a British awards event commemorating success and creativity in digital television. The show was submitted in the Best Multi-Platform Project category, but was beaten by The Operation: Surgery Live. The programme was not nominated for any other awards.| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Broadcast Digital Awards | Best Multi-Platform Project |
Distribution
The show was distributed both on television and online. It ran for a single series of eleven episodes—10 episodes lasted for five minutes each, with the final compilation episode running for half an hour and gaining a viewership peak of half a million. Chartjackers premièred in the UK on BBC Two on 12 September 2009 at 12:50 p.m. as part of the channel's two-hour long BBC Switch segment and was also uploaded to the YouTube channel "BBCSwitch" the same day. This practice of broadcasting an episode on BBC Two and uploading it to the "BBCSwitch" YouTube channel the same day continued throughout the series. Episodes were also streamed online through BBC iPlayerBBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
to UK residents for seven days after their initial broadcast. The show was not broadcast outside of the UK and is currently not available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
"I've Got Nothing"
The completed Chartjackers single was released worldwide exclusively through the iTunes StoreITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
at midnight on 9 November 2009. Each copy was sold for £0.79 in the United Kingdom and $0.99 in the United States. Just under 8,400 copies were downloaded in the UK, giving "I've Got Nothing" a chart placing of Number 36 in the UK Singles Chart. The song sold approximately 20,000 copies worldwide, but did not make the singles chart in any other country.
Like the series from which it originated, "I've Got Nothing" was poorly received by critics. Some called the effort "very bad" and others predicted that it was "unlikely to make much of a top 40 impact". The music video for "I've Got Nothing" featured footage of Chartrand and Nichols singing the song in a London park, along with an actor dressed as Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
mascot Pudsey Bear. This footage, along with clips of viewers miming to the song, was then used to construct the final music video for the single, which McDonnell edited.
"I've Got Nothing" was performed live twice. The first occasion was at the 93 Feet East gathering on 4 November 2009, during the promotion of the single's release. The gathering featured performances from other YouTube users and was headlined by Hawkes. The second occurrence was four days later at Switch Live 2009, an awards show organised by BBC Switch at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, where a performance of "I've Got Nothing" opened the event.
See also
- Alternative mediaAlternative mediaAlternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
- List of YouTube personalities
- 2009 in British television2009 in British televisionThis is a list of events taking place in 2009 related to British television.-Events:-BBC:-ITV:-Channel 4:-Five:-Subscription Channels:-New channels:-Defunct channels:-Rebranding channels:-Changes of network affiliation:...