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Chartjackers
Title screen
GenreReality television
Developed byAndy Mettam
Starring
Narrated byMistaJam
Opening theme"Put 'Em Under Pressure" by Republic of Ireland Football Squad
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes11
Production
Executive producerJonathan Davenport
ProducerAdam King
EditorWill Hodgson
Running time5 minutes
Production companyHat Trick Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release12 September (2009-09-12) –
21 November 2009 (2009-11-21)

ChartJackers (sometimes spelled Chartjackers) was a BBC television series, produced by Hat Trick Productions and commissioned by BBC Switch. It premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2009 on BBC Two and garnered a viewing figures peak of almost half a million with its final episode. The series documented the lives of four teenage vloggers 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".[1]

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. A cross-platform project, the show made use of online media such as YouTube and Twitter. The crowdsourcing of the track took the format of the four vloggers posting videos to a dedicated YouTube channel named "ChartJackersProject", where they asked viewers to suggest various ideas for the final song.

By the end of the ten weeks, the completed ChartJackers single, entitled "I've Got Nothing", was released through the iTunes Store on 9 November 2009. It sold approximately 20,000 copies worldwide, achieved a peak position of Number 36 in the UK Singles Chart and raised roughly £10,000 for the UK charity Children in Need.

Synopsis

The ChartJackers leading team consisted of four YouTube users named Johnny Haggart, Jimmy Hill, Charlie McDonnell and Alex Day. On 5 September 2009, the boys announced on "ChartJackersProject" their intention to release a single that would reach Number One on the UK Singles Chart within 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 week began with the task of writing the song's lyrics. In order to generate potential lyrics, McDonnell and Day asked each viewer to post one line as a video comment.[2] Viewers posted more than 4,000 comments,[3] from which were selected the winning lines. These lyrics were posted to the Internet the following week, with the repeated phrase "I've Got Nothing" chosen for the song's title from among them. Day then asked viewers to create a melody for the lyrics and to submit it in a video response, so that one could be chosen for the single.[4]

Viewers submitted 51 melodies as video responses,[5] with the winning melody being selected from them during the project's third week.[6] Hill revealed that a band would be put together to perform the single and that any potential members should apply by submitting video auditions.[6][7] Within a week, viewers had sent in hundreds of auditions, which the boys then reviewed and selected from them their ten favourites to go through as finalists.[8] The ten finalists performed for the boys at a working men's club in Wellfield during the project's fifth week,[9] where "Adam" and "Miranda" were selected to sing on the official release.[10] A week later, after requesting help to produce the single,[11] "I've Got Nothing" was co-written and recorded by record producer Marc Dowding at University of Wales in Newport, South Wales.[12][13]

After receiving advice from video director Corin Hardy,[14] the music video for "I've Got Nothing" was filmed during week seven. To begin promoting the release of "I've Got Nothing", the boys petitioned 95.8 Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to try to get the radio coverage for the single,[15] but it was not playlisted and received no airplay. The boys feared that the song would not chart at all, so urged viewers to spam the Twitter feeds of DJs such as Reggie Yates and Scott Mills, to encourage them to play the single on their respective shows.[16] The DJs did not take kindly to this decision.[17][18] In order to continue the single's promotion, a gathering took place at the music venue 93 Feet East in London on 4 November 2009, where the single was performed live for the first time by Adam and Miranda.[19] Five days later, "I've Got Nothing" was released online.[20] The midweeks placed the single at Number 39, but sales of "I've Got Nothing" increased after comedian Stephen Fry (who provides an outro for McDonnell's YouTube videos) was convinced to promote the single on his Twitter profile.[21]

On 15 November 2009, it was revealed on The Radio 1 Chart Show that "I've Got Nothing" had reached Number 36 in the UK Singles Chart. The boys were disappointed by this.[22] The song had been distributed through the independent label Swinging Mantis,[23] therefore it qualified for inclusion in the UK Indie Chart, where it reached Number One.[24] Sales of the single raised approximately £10,000 for Children in Need.[22]

Critical reception

Although radio stations, newspapers and magazines were all canvassed,[25] ChartJackers was largely ignored by the mainstream media 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.[26] Eammon Forde of Music Week described the series' decision to release the single without management as "ridiculous" and the campaign as "doomed".[26] James Masterton of Yahoo! Music called the project "something of a failure" and its charting "lacklustre".[27] He did not mention it at all in his weekly chart podcast.[28]

As with the series itself, "I've Got Nothing" was poorly received by critics. Popjustice called the effort "very bad",[29] while Ellie Halfacre of Tower Review explained that "some commented that the melody was bad, and others said it was the lyrics".[30] Record producer Mike Stock said that, despite "a nice little verse", the song had "no killer melody".[31] Singer VV Brown suggested that, while the song's melody was "good", "the lyrics could be better".[32]

A more positive review came from Stan Schroeder of Mashable, who wrote of the song: "While it's hard to predict if it'll become a huge hit, it definitely has the ingredients, and the community to support it."[33] The project was followed by Digital Spy, who gave the single three stars out of five, calling it a "coherent and chirpy effort" but "unlikely to make much of a top 40 impact".[34] It was also followed by The Huffington Post[35] and received promotion from Yates, Fry and singer Pixie Lott.[36]

Single release

"Chartjackers"
Song

Track listing

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."I've Got Nothing"2:50

Chart performance and sales

"I've Got Nothing" was released worldwide through the iTunes Store on 9 November 2009. It sold 8,367 copies in the UK,[37] giving it a chart placing of Number 36 in the UK Singles Chart[38] and Number One in the UK Indie Chart.[24] The following week the single dropped nine places in the UK Indie Chart[39] and fell out of the UK Top 100 altogether.[40] The song sold a total of approximately 20,000 copies worldwide,[22] but did not make the singles chart in any other country.

Chart (2009) Peak
position
UK Indie (OCC)[41] 1
UK Singles (OCC)[42] 36

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by UK Indie Chart number-one single
15 November 2009 – 21 November 2009 		Succeeded by

See also


References

  1. ^ "Chartjackers, Episode 1". BBC Switch. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  2. ^ McDonnell, Charlie; Day, Alex (8 September 2009). "Lyrics Week". Youtube. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Episode 1". ChartJackers. Episode 1. 12 September 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Day, Alex (17 September 2009). "Melodies Week". Youtube. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  5. ^ "Episode 2". ChartJackers. Episode 2. 19 September 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Hill, Jimmy (25 September 2009). "Auditions - We need a band". Youtube. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  7. ^ "Episode 3". ChartJackers. Episode 3. 26 September 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Episode 4". ChartJackers. Episode 4. 3 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Club comes into focus for new TV show". Rochdale: Rochdale Observer. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Episode 5". ChartJackers. Episode 5. 10 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Haggart, Johnny; McDonnell, Charlie (22 September 2009). "Producer Search & Band Auditions!". YouTube. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  12. ^ "Chartjackers' hit produced by Creative Newport Student". Newport: University of Wales, Newport. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  13. ^ Dowding, Marc (2 November 2009). "BBC Chartjackers and other news". MySpace. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  14. ^ "Episode 6". ChartJackers. Episode 6. 17 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Episode 7". ChartJackers. Episode 7. 24 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Episode 8: CRISIS POINT!". ChartJackers. Episode 8. 31 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ Yates, Reggie (20 October 2009). "Spam is the worst way to g ..." Twitter. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  18. ^ Mills, Scott (20 October 2009). "Thanks for your MILLIONS o ..." Twitter. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  19. ^ "Episode 9". ChartJackers. Episode 9. 7 November 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ "Episode 10". ChartJackers. Episode 10. 14 November 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Fry, Stephen (11 November 2009). "The great @coollike &co ha ..." Twitter. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  22. ^ a b c Producers: Jonathan Davenport and Adam King (21 November 2009). "Compilation". ChartJackers. Episode 11. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "The Official Chart with Reggie Yates, 15/11/2009". BBC Radio 1. 15 November 2009. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  24. ^ a b "Archive Chart". The Official Charts Company. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  25. ^ Day, Alex (20 December 2009). "More composed now". Retrieved 4 June 2010. ... We asked traditional radio to play the song. We asked newspapers and magazines for coverage ...
  26. ^ a b Bowers, Mary (13 November 2009). "YouTube if you want to be a star". The Times. Retrieved 10 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Masterton, James (16 November 2009). "Chart Watch UK". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  28. ^ Writer: James Masterton (19 November 2009). "Week Ending November 21st". James Masterton's Chart Update.
  29. ^ "Subtle hints that Simon Cowell might not always be musically motivated". Popjustice. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  30. ^ Halfacre, Ellie (19 January 2010). "I've Got Nothing". Tower Review. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  31. ^ "Episode 3". ChartJackers. Episode 3. 26 September 2009. 3:29 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Episode 3". ChartJackers. Episode 3. 26 September 2009. 1:57 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Schroeder, Stan (9 November 2009). "I've Got Nothing: Crowdsourced Song Created by YouTubers". Mashable. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  34. ^ Balls, David (9 November 2009). "Music - Single Reviews". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  35. ^ Campbell, Scott (8 November 2009). "Crowdsourced Band Release "I've Got Nothing" Single". The Huffington Post. Retrieved June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  36. ^ Lott, Pixie (10 November 2009). "please buy chartjackers si ..." Twitter. Retrieved June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  37. ^ Jones, Alan (21 November 2009). Williams, Paul (ed.). "Peas take Halfway the whole way...". Music Week. London: Joe Hosken. p. 36.
  38. ^ "Singles Chart For 21/11/09". Chart Stats. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  39. ^ "Archive Chart". The Official Charts Company. 22 November 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  40. ^ "Singles Chart For 28/11/09". Chart Stats. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  41. ^ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  42. ^ "ChartJackers: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 May 2010.

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