How to Report Your Music Sales to Soundscan

Get in the billboard charts

Each week, Nielsen Soundscan counts the number of units sold for digital singles, digital albums, CDs, vinyl, and video singles. If you meet all of the requirements laid out which you probably are eligible, You can report your sales to Nielsen Soundscan which can help you get in the billboard charts!

This system should not be confused with BDS or MediaBase. Soundscan is not for radio… it is for retail sales. It is the system that is connected to the barcode scanners at retail stores; it tabulates the sales data, and sells it to subscribers at a lofty price. A note about who owns whom: Soundscan, Billboard and BDS are all owned by the same company, which is the Nielsen Company.

MediaBase, on the other hand, is owned by Clear Channel, the largest owner of radio stations (1200) in the world. 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.

Nielsen SoundScan is a tracking system operated by the ACNielsen, that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. Any music product that carries a UPC or EAN barcode and ISRC code is eligible to be tracked by Nielsen SoundScan. According to their website, “Sales data from point-of-sale cash registers is collected weekly from over 14,000 retail, mass merchant and non-traditional (on-line stores, venues, etc.) outlets. Weekly data is compiled and made available every Wednesday. Nielsen SoundScan is the sales source for the Billboard music charts.”

In order to have a chance at making the Billboard music charts, any release must be registered with Nielsen 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.

At the time of this article, Nielsen SoundScan registration is still free of charge. Please note, that BEFORE registering with…

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