IFPI Greece
Encyclopedia
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek
branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification
body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of Greek repertoire albums and the other for foreign repertoire. Sales from both charts are also combined to form a hybrid chart that indicates all top album sales within Greece. The charts are published by IFPI Greece and are compiled together with sales data by accounting firm Deloitte
.
The domestic trade name of IFPI Greece is Ένωση Ελλήνων Παραγωγών Ηχογραφημάτων (ΕΕΠΗ) (English
: Association of Greek Producers of Phonograms [AGPP]). However, it is generally referred to, and branded as, IFPI Greece.
radio. Prior to the introduction of industry charts by IFPI Greece, unreliable charts were being published by various magazines which lacked credibility and authority over the monitoring of record sales. By May 1991, the charts were discontinued after it was discovered that they were easily manipulated. Executives blamed artists who made themselves appear more popular by buying hundreds of copies of their own albums in an attempt to gain more bargaining power for shows and appearances. Also cited was the large number of small shops which lacked detailed sales data required as a basis toward an accurate tracking systems. In response to the discontinuation, Viko Antypas, managing director of PolyGram Greece, referred to the charts as "an experiment that failed".
Realizing the importance of having a national chart, which "helped bring the Greek music industry back into the public eye", IFPI sought to employ a system where albums would be tracked based upon actual sales to the public, as opposed to the number of retail shipments as was previously used. It was planned for these reformed charts to be operable by early 1992, however a complete overhaul of the charting method never materialized and future charts were once again based upon shipments, this time with adjusted figures via the sampling of record store inventories to form an estimation of actual consumer sales.
In March 2009 IFPI Greece announced that they would close their charts for a period of time in order to renew their charting system. There will be a shift from wholesale (manufacturer to retailer) to point of sale
(retailer to consumer) sales, as well as the integration of legal digital downloads
. The implementation of a point of sale tracking method will solve the longstanding issue of accurate consumer sales tracking, a pending issue identified since 1991 with the first discontinuation of the charts. Inclusion of digital downloads will also prompt the revival of the singles chart, as the decrease in sales and releases of CD singles had led to the discontinuation of the physical singles chart. Nielsen Soundscan
is already engaged in the monitoring of digital downloads sold in Greece, which is compiled into a chart currently published under the international charts section of Billboard
.
In January 2010, IFPI Greece announced that they would start providing the Top 50 Foreign Albums chart on their website again, although the reformed charting system is not yet functional. Thus the Top 50 Foreign Albums chart continues to utilize the old charting system, while it is the only chart they currently provide. IFPI debuted its new chart in early October 2010. The new chart, Top 75 Combined Repertoire, is now the sole chart by IFPI Greece and lists the top 75 domestic and foreign albums in the country.
in March 2011, a weekly Top 100 combined repertoire airplay chart is published on their site and publicly viewable.
Top 50 Foreign Albums
Prior to 1997, the sales thresholds for foreign repertoire were the same as domestic ones.
Prior to September 2009, the thresholds were 5,000 and 10,000 copies, respectively.
Prior to September 2009, the thresholds were 7,500 and 15,000 copies, respectively.
closely mirrors that of Greece. Virtually all Greek and foreign music releases are solely provided by the record companies in Greece, under exclusive distribution agreements with Cypriot record company All Records. Consequently, All Records is the IFPI representative of Cyprus via IFPI Greece and is engaged in the publishing of Cyprus' official sales charts, currently known as the Musical Paradise charts.
More recently Agence France-Presse
noted that "CD and DVD piracy is extremely widespread in Greece, with many Greeks preferring to purchase discs from peddlers touring cafes and restaurants rather than from licensed shops, which they see as overpriced." In its July 2006 piracy report, the IFPI found that Greece, along with Italy and Spain, had alarmingly high piracy rates compared to other EU member states. Pirated product was identified to account for 50% of all music sales in Greece and the IFPI blamed "an overlenient judicial system and ineffectual policing was hampering the fight against piracy." Furthermore, the IFPI calculates a loss of profit of about 150 million euros per year as of 2006. In 2008, Kathimerini
newspaper noted that sales of bootlegs is thought to have cost Greece almost €1 billion in lost taxes over a nine-year period.
Another repercussion of the rampant piracy throughout Greece is the marked deterioration in the sales certification thresholds of IFPI Greece. At a conference held in Athens in 2005, Chairman and CEO of IFPI John Kennedy stated:
states with regards to legal music recording sales.
More recently, following the Greek debt crisis, a trend has been established for even prominent artists to release their albums as covermount
s with national Greek newspapers, usually Real News. This facilitates a guaranteed a return for the record companies and artists in the face of otherwise low legal sales. Albums distributed in this way are not eligible for certification by IFPI Greece, so most go on to release them separately to boost sales and possibly to be certified if they gain enough sales.
From 2002 to 2004, the slogan appeared as a logo featuring an open, red-colored hand print in the background. In 2005, the logo was updated with a differently stylized straight red-colored hand containing a black disc in its palm, with the "Piracy Kills Music" slogan appearing as caption below it. In 2007, IFPI Greece changed its anti-piracy slogan to "Let Music Live" which would appear as a caption to a colorful musical note. This anti-piracy tactic of imprinting CDs and music videos appears to be fading as fewer labels have chosen to continue this practice since 2009.
as an expression of the diversity in Greek music. The awards debuted in 2002 following the discontinuation of the "Pop Corn Music Awards", which were organized by the defunct Greek magazine "Pop Corn" from the early 90's until 2001. The Arions were broadcast by Mega Channel
in their first five years before moving to ANT1 channel
later. In the first years, the awards were praised by industry and viewers alike, helping to demonstrate to audiences the industry behind the music and by raising awareness on issues of piracy and counterfeit CDs. They also effectively balanced the majority of genres present in the local market. The awards have been put on hiatus since 2007 for various reasons ranging from falling TV ratings, low artist attendance, and to a general crisis in Greek discography attributed to falling sales and heavy piracy. MAD Video Music Awards
presented by music television station MAD TV, which primarily awards music videos, is currently the only mainstream music award in Greece.
is an annual international awards ceremony since 1989 that honours recording artists from all over the world based on global sales figures provided by the IFPI. As the IFPI has significant roles and operations in Greece, it qualifies for its regional awards in the best selling artist category. The regional awards, as with many of their other awards, are not necessarily awarded annually, rather only when it is believed that an artist has sold an extraordinary amount of records for their country. "World's Best Selling Greek Artist" is therefore the title bestowed upon Greek artists, and to this date it has been awarded three times since 2002.
The first award was given in 2002 to Despina Vandi
for her album Gia
which reached 5× platinum status, followed by Yiannis Kotsiras in 2003 for his album Live, and in 2004 to Haris Alexiou
for her album Os Tin Akri Tou Ouranou Sou, both for reaching 3× platinum status. Sakis Rouvas
was the last artist to receive the award in 2005 for a mixture of the sales of his album To Hrono Stamatao
and his CD-single "Shake It
" which reached 4× platinum status. It should be noted that prior to 2002 there had also been artists who attained similar sales, but they were not recognized with an award.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of Greek repertoire albums and the other for foreign repertoire. Sales from both charts are also combined to form a hybrid chart that indicates all top album sales within Greece. The charts are published by IFPI Greece and are compiled together with sales data by accounting firm Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
.
The domestic trade name of IFPI Greece is Ένωση Ελλήνων Παραγωγών Ηχογραφημάτων (ΕΕΠΗ) (English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: Association of Greek Producers of Phonograms [AGPP]). However, it is generally referred to, and branded as, IFPI Greece.
History
IFPI Greece founded the first official music charts in Greece in 1989. There were two top 20 albums charts, one for domestic and the other for foreign repertoire. The broadcast rights of the charts were acquired by ANT1ANT1 Group
Antenna Group better known as ANT1 Group is a media company in Greece and is currently the largest Greek media company. It was established in 1988 by Minos Kyriakou, the president and founder of Antenna Group. Today Mr. Kyriakou heads up a media empire whose operations include broadcasting,...
radio. Prior to the introduction of industry charts by IFPI Greece, unreliable charts were being published by various magazines which lacked credibility and authority over the monitoring of record sales. By May 1991, the charts were discontinued after it was discovered that they were easily manipulated. Executives blamed artists who made themselves appear more popular by buying hundreds of copies of their own albums in an attempt to gain more bargaining power for shows and appearances. Also cited was the large number of small shops which lacked detailed sales data required as a basis toward an accurate tracking systems. In response to the discontinuation, Viko Antypas, managing director of PolyGram Greece, referred to the charts as "an experiment that failed".
Realizing the importance of having a national chart, which "helped bring the Greek music industry back into the public eye", IFPI sought to employ a system where albums would be tracked based upon actual sales to the public, as opposed to the number of retail shipments as was previously used. It was planned for these reformed charts to be operable by early 1992, however a complete overhaul of the charting method never materialized and future charts were once again based upon shipments, this time with adjusted figures via the sampling of record store inventories to form an estimation of actual consumer sales.
In March 2009 IFPI Greece announced that they would close their charts for a period of time in order to renew their charting system. There will be a shift from wholesale (manufacturer to retailer) to point of sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
(retailer to consumer) sales, as well as the integration of legal digital downloads
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
. The implementation of a point of sale tracking method will solve the longstanding issue of accurate consumer sales tracking, a pending issue identified since 1991 with the first discontinuation of the charts. Inclusion of digital downloads will also prompt the revival of the singles chart, as the decrease in sales and releases of CD singles had led to the discontinuation of the physical singles chart. Nielsen Soundscan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
is already engaged in the monitoring of digital downloads sold in Greece, which is compiled into a chart currently published under the international charts section of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
.
In January 2010, IFPI Greece announced that they would start providing the Top 50 Foreign Albums chart on their website again, although the reformed charting system is not yet functional. Thus the Top 50 Foreign Albums chart continues to utilize the old charting system, while it is the only chart they currently provide. IFPI debuted its new chart in early October 2010. The new chart, Top 75 Combined Repertoire, is now the sole chart by IFPI Greece and lists the top 75 domestic and foreign albums in the country.
Top 75 albums
The Top 75 Combined Repertoire chart is the official albums chart of Greece. It debut in October 2010, replacing and combining the prior separate Greek-language and foreign album charts.Top 200 Airplay chart
In 2011 IFPI Greece partnered up with a new radio monitoring service called Media Inspector to provide an official airplay chart. The company monitors a total of 150 radio stations around Greece, and compiles a combined repertoire Top 200 airplay chart, though it is not publicly accessible. After the launch of Billboard GreeceBillboard Greece
Billboard Greece is a Greek online magazine that launched on 18 March 2011. It serves as the localized version of Billboard, also featuring independent coverage of both Greek and international music repertoire.-Background:...
in March 2011, a weekly Top 100 combined repertoire airplay chart is published on their site and publicly viewable.
Past charts
Top 50 Greek Albums- The Top 50 Greek Albums (Top 50 Ελληνικών Aλμπουμ) chart was the official albums chart of Greece for Greek-language repertoire. Sales of domestic repertoire are higher in Greece compared to other IFPI nations, outnumbering foreign repertoire sales. The chart was discontinued in March 2009, and later replaced by the Top 75 Combined Repertoire chart.
Top 50 Foreign Albums
- The Top 50 Foreign Albums (Top 50 Ξένων Aλμπουμ) chart was the official sales chart for Greece of foreign repertoire. The chart was discontinued in March 2009, and later replaced by the Top 75 Combined Repertoire chart.
Domestic repertoire
| Years | Gold | Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 10/1990 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| 11/1990–1997 | 30,000 | 60,000 |
| 1997–11/2002 | 25,000 | 50,000 |
| 12/2002–2005 | 20,000 | 40,000 |
| 2006–08/2009 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| 09/2009–present | 6,000 | 12,000 |
Foreign repertoire
| Years | Gold | Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–11/2002 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| 12/2002–2005 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| 2006–08/2009 | 7,500 | 15,000 |
| 09/2009–present | 3,000 | 6,000 |
Prior to 1997, the sales thresholds for foreign repertoire were the same as domestic ones.
DVD
- Gold: 3,000
- Platinum: 6,000
Prior to September 2009, the thresholds were 5,000 and 10,000 copies, respectively.
Singles
(currently inactive)- Gold: 3,000
- Platinum: 6,000
Prior to September 2009, the thresholds were 7,500 and 15,000 copies, respectively.
Charts of Cyprus
The music industry of CyprusCyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
closely mirrors that of Greece. Virtually all Greek and foreign music releases are solely provided by the record companies in Greece, under exclusive distribution agreements with Cypriot record company All Records. Consequently, All Records is the IFPI representative of Cyprus via IFPI Greece and is engaged in the publishing of Cyprus' official sales charts, currently known as the Musical Paradise charts.
Repercussions of recording piracy
Piracy is not a new phenomenon in the Greek music market. In the early 1980s, cassette reproduction in-home and in-store accounted for eight out of every ten in the market, however by the early 1990s that number dwindled to two out of every ten as a result of public awareness campaigns and the prosecution of key producers.More recently Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
noted that "CD and DVD piracy is extremely widespread in Greece, with many Greeks preferring to purchase discs from peddlers touring cafes and restaurants rather than from licensed shops, which they see as overpriced." In its July 2006 piracy report, the IFPI found that Greece, along with Italy and Spain, had alarmingly high piracy rates compared to other EU member states. Pirated product was identified to account for 50% of all music sales in Greece and the IFPI blamed "an overlenient judicial system and ineffectual policing was hampering the fight against piracy." Furthermore, the IFPI calculates a loss of profit of about 150 million euros per year as of 2006. In 2008, Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...
newspaper noted that sales of bootlegs is thought to have cost Greece almost €1 billion in lost taxes over a nine-year period.
Another repercussion of the rampant piracy throughout Greece is the marked deterioration in the sales certification thresholds of IFPI Greece. At a conference held in Athens in 2005, Chairman and CEO of IFPI John Kennedy stated:
The sharpest decline came with the current sales levels established in September 2008 where the gold and platinum levels for Greek repertoire were reduced by 60%, from 30,000 to 12,000 units for platinum status, and from 15,000 to 6,000 units for gold status. As a result, Greece ranks amongst the lowest of EU
"Along with Spain, Greece is our biggest piracy problem country in Western Europe. It joins countries like Estonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia, all with piracy levels above 45%. In fact with a piracy rate of around 50%, Greece is one of the very few Western European countries where illegal music copies almost outnumber legal sales."
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
states with regards to legal music recording sales.
More recently, following the Greek debt crisis, a trend has been established for even prominent artists to release their albums as covermount
Covermount
Covermount is the name given to storage media or other products packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper...
s with national Greek newspapers, usually Real News. This facilitates a guaranteed a return for the record companies and artists in the face of otherwise low legal sales. Albums distributed in this way are not eligible for certification by IFPI Greece, so most go on to release them separately to boost sales and possibly to be certified if they gain enough sales.
Anti-piracy campaigns
IFPI Greece runs an anti-piracy campaign with the help of the recording industry. Beginning in 2002, During IFPI Greece's first annual "Arion Music Awards", its "Piracy Kills Music" campaign was launched, aimed at raising awareness among consumers. Campaign logos would appear on almost every album release, inserted into music videos broadcasts, and public service announcements were designed as magazine and newspaper ads. The slogan was also heard regularly in radio spots of major radio stations.From 2002 to 2004, the slogan appeared as a logo featuring an open, red-colored hand print in the background. In 2005, the logo was updated with a differently stylized straight red-colored hand containing a black disc in its palm, with the "Piracy Kills Music" slogan appearing as caption below it. In 2007, IFPI Greece changed its anti-piracy slogan to "Let Music Live" which would appear as a caption to a colorful musical note. This anti-piracy tactic of imprinting CDs and music videos appears to be fading as fewer labels have chosen to continue this practice since 2009.
Arion Music Awards (2002–2007)
The Arion Music Awards were the official industry awards organized by Greece's charting authority, IFPI Greece. The awards are named after the Ancient Greek poet ArionArion
Arion was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb: "As a literary composition for chorus dithyramb was the creation of Arion of Corinth," The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant of Corinth...
as an expression of the diversity in Greek music. The awards debuted in 2002 following the discontinuation of the "Pop Corn Music Awards", which were organized by the defunct Greek magazine "Pop Corn" from the early 90's until 2001. The Arions were broadcast by Mega Channel
Mega Channel
Mega Channel, also known as Mega TV or just Mega, is a major television network in Greece. Teletypos S.A. was founded in 1989 under the name Teletypos Television Programmes S.A...
in their first five years before moving to ANT1 channel
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece and Cyprus. The alternate spelling is play on words in Greek; ena is the Greek number 1, thus ANT1 is pronounced the same as Antenna . It launched on 31 December 1989, the same year as rival Mega Channel, and is owned by...
later. In the first years, the awards were praised by industry and viewers alike, helping to demonstrate to audiences the industry behind the music and by raising awareness on issues of piracy and counterfeit CDs. They also effectively balanced the majority of genres present in the local market. The awards have been put on hiatus since 2007 for various reasons ranging from falling TV ratings, low artist attendance, and to a general crisis in Greek discography attributed to falling sales and heavy piracy. MAD Video Music Awards
MAD Video Music Awards
The MAD Video Music Awards were established in 2003, to honor the best Greek artist, song and music video of each year....
presented by music television station MAD TV, which primarily awards music videos, is currently the only mainstream music award in Greece.
World Music Awards
The World Music AwardsWorld Music Awards
The World Music Awards is an international awards show founded in 1989 that annually honors recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry . John Martinotti is an executive producer and co-founder of the show...
is an annual international awards ceremony since 1989 that honours recording artists from all over the world based on global sales figures provided by the IFPI. As the IFPI has significant roles and operations in Greece, it qualifies for its regional awards in the best selling artist category. The regional awards, as with many of their other awards, are not necessarily awarded annually, rather only when it is believed that an artist has sold an extraordinary amount of records for their country. "World's Best Selling Greek Artist" is therefore the title bestowed upon Greek artists, and to this date it has been awarded three times since 2002.
The first award was given in 2002 to Despina Vandi
Despina Vandi
Despina Malea , known by her stage name Despina Vandi , is a Greek singer. Born in Tübingen near Stuttgart, West Germany, Vandi's family returned to Kavala, Greece when she was six years old and she later enrolled at the University of Thessaloniki, but eventually dropped out to begin a career in...
for her album Gia
Gia (album)
Gia is an album by Greek singer Despina Vandi that was originally released on December 19, 2001 by Heaven Music. Since release, it has been re-released several times, and has become one of the best-selling album of all time...
which reached 5× platinum status, followed by Yiannis Kotsiras in 2003 for his album Live, and in 2004 to Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou is a Greek singer. She is considered one of the most popular singers in Greece and has been commercially successful since the 1970s. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world and has received several awards...
for her album Os Tin Akri Tou Ouranou Sou, both for reaching 3× platinum status. Sakis Rouvas
Sakis Rouvas
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...
was the last artist to receive the award in 2005 for a mixture of the sales of his album To Hrono Stamatao
To Hrono Stamatao
To Hrono Stamatao is the tenth studio album by Greek pop-rock singer-songwriter Sakis Rouvas, released in December 2003 by Minos EMI in Greece and Cyprus...
and his CD-single "Shake It
Shake It (Sakis Rouvas song)
"Shake It" is an English language song by Greek singer Sakis Rouvas and was the Greek entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The song is an up-tempo number, with Rouvas telling his lover that "I would trade my life for a night with you" and asking the lover to "shake it" for him...
" which reached 4× platinum status. It should be noted that prior to 2002 there had also been artists who attained similar sales, but they were not recognized with an award.
See also
- International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
- List of music recording certifications