Chartjackers
Four bloggers crowdsource a charity single in ten weeks.
Chartjackers is a British documentary series produced by Hat Trick Productions and commissioned by BBC Switch. It follows four teenage video bloggers over ten weeks as they attempt to write, record, and release a pop song for charity, aiming for a number one single. The series premiered on BBC Two on 12 September 2009 and ran for eleven weekly episodes, with the final episode summarizing the entire project.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Documentary, Reality television
- Developer
- Andy Mettam
- Narrator
- MistaJam
- Opening theme
- "Put 'Em Under Pressure" by Republic of Ireland Football Squad
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 1
- Episodes
- 11
Facts from the source article.
Production
Chartjackers was created in 2009 by Jonathan Davenport and Andy Mettam, both from Hat Trick Productions. The BBC Switch brand, through Geoffrey Goodwin and Jo Twist, commissioned it as part of a multi-platform season designed for teenagers. Marketed as a "YouTube X Factor," the project was tied to the 2009 Children in Need appeal; money from single sales went to the charity. Davenport, who ran Hat Trick’s digital department, executive produced the show. He had previously handled cross-platform work like the Have I Got News For You video podcast and the YouTube series Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie. The digital agency Fish in a bottle handled creative content for the online side, including the YouTube channel and Twitter account. The four video bloggers chosen for the main team already had large followings, with a combined YouTube subscriber count above 200,000, and were picked to draw in teenage viewers. Vocalists Miranda Chartrand and Adam Nichols, who sang on the finished single, joined the cast partway through the series after an audition process. Most filming happened in and around London, including a scene at 93 Feet East and the music video for "I've Got Nothing." Other locations included the Wellfield Working Men's Club in Rochdale for auditions, the University of Wales in Newport for recording, and the Three Ways School in Bath.
Series overview
Chartjackers documented Day, Haggart, Hill, and McDonnell as they attempted to write, record, and release a charity single through crowdsourcing. The series ran in real time, with each of the first ten episodes covering the previous seven days. On 5 September 2009, the group announced on the YouTube channel ChartJackersProject their goal of releasing a number one single within ten weeks, with a different task each week. The first episode explained the project's goal and asked viewers to post one line of lyrics as a comment; over 4,000 comments were submitted, from which winning lines were selected. The chorus was composed by YouTube user blakeisno1, and the repeated phrase "I've Got Nothing" became the title. Viewers then submitted melodies via video response; from 51 entries, Jonny Dark's melody was chosen in episode three. A band was assembled by asking for video auditions; hundreds were received, and ten finalists were selected. In episode five, Chartrand and Nichols were chosen as vocalists. Episode six covered the recording of "I've Got Nothing" in Newport with producer Marc Dowding, and the group received advice from video director Corin Hardy on filming the music video.
Reception
Critical reaction to Chartjackers was overwhelmingly negative, and the show was largely ignored by mainstream media. Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog said the project showed "contempt for music" and "the public at large". James Masterton of Yahoo! Music called it "something of a failure" with a "lacklustre" chart performance. DJs Reggie Yates and Scott Mills were unimpressed by the team's attempts to gain their attention via Twitter. Eammon Forde of Music Week described the decision to release the single without management as "ridiculous" and the campaign as "doomed". Pocket-lint called the show a "car crash". Irish television personality Stephen Byrne questioned whether the main motivation was charity, a view echoed by comedian David Bass. The project was quickly overshadowed by the campaign to get "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas number one. Chartjackers received one nomination at the 2010 Broadcast Digital Awards in the Best Multi-Platform Project category, but lost to The Operation: Surgery Live.
I've Got Nothing
The completed Chartjackers single, "I've Got Nothing", was released worldwide exclusively through the iTunes Store at midnight on 9 November 2009, priced at £0.79 in the UK and $0.99 in the US. Just under 8,400 copies were downloaded in the UK, charting at number 36 on the UK Singles Chart; worldwide sales were approximately 20,000 copies, but it did not chart elsewhere. The song was poorly received by critics, with some calling it "very bad" and predicting it was "unlikely to make much of a top 40 impact". The music video featured Chartrand and Nichols singing in a London park, an actor dressed as Children in Need mascot Pudsey Bear, and clips of viewers miming; McDonnell edited the final video. The song was performed live twice: at a 93 Feet East gathering on 4 November 2009, and at Switch Live 2009 at the Hammersmith Apollo on 8 November 2009.
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