What It Is

Nielson Broadcasting is best known as the company that rates the popularity of television programs. In addition to T.V., the company is also diversified in several music entertainment properties, and is the owner of Billboard magazine, as well as SoundScan.

SoundScan is an online service that tracks the sale of music and video releases. Any music product that carries a barcode is eligible to be tracked by SoundScan, if the retailer elects to report their sales to SoundScan. Although this is no longer the case, Newbury Comics elected NOT to report their sales to SoundScan for years as they thought that their competitors could use the information and negatively affect their own sales. Almost all of the major independent stores, as well as the chains and big-box retailers report their sales to SoundScan. The service reports sales every Tuesday morning. Anytime you hear information about the top selling records or top selling singles for any period of time, you can be sure that SoundScan provided this information. In addition to sales produced by retail outlets, touring artists can also report their venue sales themselves to the service by faxing in reporting documents.

SoundScan is a great tool for the music marketer. The service segments sales out in a number of ways to help marketers decide where to put their marketing dollars, including: independent/chain sales, online vs. physical sales, and most importantly, geography. Keep in mind though; the service is a little pricey for the casual music marketing maven. Pricing plans can be worked out here: sales@soundscan.com

Why SoundScan Matters

SoundScan is one of the best tools for marketing folks to judge the success of their marketing plan. At a label, the first thing the marketing department does on Tuesday morning is check Soundscan, and then talk about the past weeks sales in their marketing meeting Tuesday afternoon. Marketing can then see how specific campaigns or visibility like a radio appearance, press hit, or live show has affected sales by region. Because all music marketing plans are fluid documents, if the marketing team sees an unexpected spike in sales in a particular area, they can dedicate more resources there to ‘keep the wheel spinning.’

For independent artists, SoundScan can be used for the same marketing purposes. But over and above any marketing information it offers, SoundScan sales can become part of the artists overall story. If any artist is interested in gaining the attention of a distributor or record label, a great SoundScan sales story is a valuable tool. Labels LOVE the idea of signing bands that have momentum, and can prove that they have a dedicated following in certain areas.

Mike King is the managing editor of Artists House Music. He also teaches Music Marketing 201 at Berklee’s online continuing education division www.berkleemusic.com

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