Martin Talbot is managing director of the Official Charts Company, providers of the most accurate intelligence data on the British video and music industries – and the most sophisticated chart system anywhere in the world. Talbot joined the world of the Official Charts in October 2007, following several years as editor of Music Week, the trade paper for the UK music industry. Martin started his career in local news, at the Hackney Gazette, where he reported on crime, politics and entertainment. His time at Music Week began in the early 1990s, interrupted by a spell as a staff writer at the NME.
He became executive editor of Music Week in January 2002 and editor in January 2005. In four years at the Official Charts, Talbot has overseen the development of a new direct-to-consumer focus through the creation of iPhone and iPad apps, an enhancement of the organisation’s consumer-facing online presence and the launch of consumer-facing midweek charts – the Official Singles and Albums Updates. He is also about to unveil a new brand identity for the organisation and the roll-out of a new positioning of the Official Charts as the place “Where Legends Are Made” in time for the 60th Anniversary of the Singles Chart in 2012.
