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This week, Soundscan - what is that? Let’s go -
Ever read a Billboard magazine and wonder how those records got to be number 1? How do they get the information as to how many records were sold, were streamed, downloaded, and why it even matters.
That information comes from Soundscan which is owned by Valence Media under it’s MRC Data division who also owns Billboard. Now back in the day before all these companies merged, Billboard would call stores and track sales, then Soundscan came along, then they became Nielsen Soundscan, then Valence, then they rebranded it to MRC Data. 🤦🏽♂️ Geez!! Now some of these corporate maneuvers are fairly new, but as with most industries the music business is always moving, shaking and evolving; and as the song says “big bank take lil bank.” But that in itself would take about 10 pages to write. As for now, we’ll just focus on what is this Soundscan that we speak about. Soundscan is a tracking platform that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. Data is collected weekly and made available every Wednesday to subscribers, which include record companies, publishing firms, music retailers, independent promoters, film and TV companies, and artist managers. In order to have a chance at making the Billboard music charts, any release must be registered with SoundScan using UPC number (for the whole album) and ISRC codes (for the individual tracks). Without registration, the sales figures will not be counted, and will remain invisible to the system. Of the DSP’s, only CDbaby and Bandcamp report sales to soundscan. Both will report all digital sales of albums with a barcode or ISRC codes to SoundScan on a weekly basis. HOWEVER, it is your responsibility to register directly with Soundscan here, to make sure that your sales are properly credited to you and there are no mistakes with your reporting or your money - make sense? 😉
This week's #IAOTW - Independent Artists Of The Week is rapper Showthief. Now in Florida he attended Samford in Birmingham and is featured on Ruby Camille’s latest single Faded.
For more information or to hire Unda The Hat as your brand or label consultant send a message via undathehat.com. See you next Tuesday.