When Streaming Music invades the Charts

So this past Saturday night when the ARIA charts went live, it was the first week streaming songs were incorporated into the week's official charts.  I read an article on this recently and was really interested to find out that not only the album itself was dying but now one does not even have to sell their music to chart? What?

Music and it's distribution have changed so many over the past few years and music itself is in such a different place. 2014 has been a great year for many artists but there are few albums which are truly excellent. On my other BLOG where I normally talk the international language of music I have 5 wonderful albums which have meet my strict guidelines to become an album of the year.

Sia, Vance Joy, Chet Faker & Pharrell have lead the way for solo acts in 2014 and The Preatures are killing it in the Groups department whilst groups like the Hilltop Hoods, Flight Facilities, Broods and more have delivered wonderful singles just not complete packages when it comes to albums. Azealia Banks did a Beyonce and drop a wonderful debut (almost 2 years late) and Clavin Harris continues to show he is so much better than David Guetta at getting guests on his album.

So will streaming hurt the charts? Will it show golden oldies start to return to the charts as many of us find ourselves saying "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff"? Or will new music win with new songs dropping what feels like every two minutes.

The world of music continues to grow, change and evolve however heading into a Summer without Homebake, Big Day Out or any major International acts touring the large football stadiums it's interesting to think, where will music be in 2015? Will a song like "Happy" from Pharrell become a worldwide hit and inspire thousands of YouTube tribute videos? Will an act like Sia get a worldwide number one album after refusing to tour or speak to anyone about the album? And perform with her back to the camera/crowd in every live performance?

2015 could be interesting, in January we can expect new music from Marilyn Manson, Pond, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis & the big one Mark Ronson.

Who knows what else to expect in 2015, will Big Day Out return for 2016? Will music festivals continue to be a thing? Will Australians continue to smash it overseas (Iggy, Sia, 5SOS)? and will some artists well past their used by (sorry Kylie that includes you and Madonna (PS - where is that new album?)) finally call it a day?

Time will tell and I will be interested to keep an eye on the charts that once required us to spend money and now this is no more. The youth have grown up with torrents and Napster so is music forever destined to be free?