How To Get Music Registered With Soundscan

Charts thing in music and you might exist wondering what is SoundScan?

They're quantifiable ways of measuring the success of your creative efforts, and SoundScan is one of the well-nigh important music tracking charts on the block.

Information technology's run by the Nielsen Corporation and is a name you'll demand to remember when working in the music business.

SoundScan Everything You Need To Know

This guide will dive deep into what SoundScan is and how it fuels the music industry.

By the time you're done, yous'll exist intimately familiar with everything yous demand to know about SoundScan. Let'southward get started.

What Is SoundScan?

Nielsen is a global marketing research firm founded in 1923 and one of the most respected sources of data. Its information analytics and measurements are trusted across industries and geographic borders, and its revenues make this century-sometime visitor a component of the S&P 500.

If you've ever heard the term "market share," it was coined by the company'due south founder Arthur C. Nielsen. That's how foundational this company truly is. It regularly tracks ratings and sales for Goggle box, cyberspace, mobile devices, radio, and more.

These datasets are routinely cited by the globe'due south leading media outlets and analysts, and SoundScan is its specific platform for tracking music sales.

SoundScan was created in May 1991 past Mike Shalett and Mike Fine and was released for albums every Sun and singles every Monday. Information technology has since grown into the largest music sales source, fueling the Billboard charts and more, although it'due south not used to issue RIAA sales certification plaques. Modern SoundScan numbers are released to subscribers every Wednesday and are crucial to providing an creative person'south chart clout and revenue.

Access to the raw information is a subscription-based service whose clients include everyone from indie and major labels to distribution companies, artists, managers, booking agents, promoters, venue owners, streaming services, ecommerce, and more.

The only requirement is the production requires a UPC or ISRC to track sales, and registration is a simple online process you lot can access here . If you don't register your music releases with SoundScan, your sales figures don't count. Basically, you don't be in this industry.

Suggested Reading:

6 Benefits of Music Licensing Explained

iii Important Factors to Help You License Your Music and Country More Placements

How Does SoundScan Work?

Music can be purchased in a variety of platforms, such as a physical compact disc or vinyl, digital downloads, or music videos on DVD or Blu-Ray. This sales information is tracked beyond both brick-and-mortar stores (like Best Buy and Walmart) and ecommerce like iTunes and Amazon, along with ticketing companies and venues.

I thing SoundScan doesn't runway is streams. Nielsen Connect is a divide subscription service that tracks those numbers, although SoundScan is yet powering the sales charts in Connect and has historical records that predate it. These are necessary for deeper research purposes.

These metrics are used to determine music trends and find out who's hot or non in the moment, often leading to buzz gathering around get-go-week sales and the Billboard Top 100 overall or in any given niche. The raw data is also intellectual property endemic by Nielsen and requires individual subscriptions for access. The information is heavily protected with military-grade security and zero-tolerance information sharing policies.

At its root, tracking each sale is done through the Universal Product Code (UPC) and International Standard Recording Code (ISRC). This is why it'southward crucial to register for these codes prior to registering with SoundScan, which is normally provided past your digital music distributor. This leads to why all of this is so important.

Benefits/Importance for Artists

Subscribing to SoundScan is typically limited to those with a business demand, such equally music publishers, booking and promotion agents, management firms, and radio promoters. Most people volition not need the actual detailed sales figures and tin can simply rely on the Billboard charts. However, these rankings are constantly buzzed virtually amidst media/analysts and become part of an artist's promotion.

For instance, first calendar week sales numbers are commonly a barometer for how an artist will sell, and that's why they're so heavily reported on across the media. This leaves an important question of whether to sign up or non.

Should I Sign Upwardly for Nielsen SoundScan?

With how important it is, yous absolutely need to register every single song and album you lot release. It'due south mandatory to even go part of the conversation, especially for indie artists. Information technology should be a office of your procedure, along with registering for a UPC and ISRC.

Yet, you don't necessarily demand to subscribe to the SoundScan sales figures unless y'all have a business purpose. In short, information technology's great to be function of the data, but you don't always demand to be office of the audience. If yous're able to wait, y'all can encounter the full general results through Billboard and other secondary sources.

There's a fee associated with the subscription that's based on your business. Prices aren't published anywhere, and you lot need to contact Nielsen straight to discuss getting fix upward. Their reps volition get you set up with an business relationship. Each individual volition get a login (even inside the same company), and sharing these logins can get your account suspended, so do so with circumspection.

Notwithstanding, whether yous subscribe or non, it's absolutely vital to never skip over registering every musical work with SoundScan. It's a costless procedure and the simply way anyone volition know how much you sold. If your indie label is going to be taken seriously, information technology needs to exist registered with SoundScan.

How to Get Started with Nielsen SoundScan