Soundscan is owned by the Nielsen company. Nielsen as you may know, keep tabs
on what consumers watch on TV, they also operate Bookscan, Videoscan, as well as
Broadcast Data Systems. BDS is the
world-leading provider of of off-the-air music recognition for the record and radio
industries. BDS identifies songs played on over 1100 radio stations in the U.S. and
Canada 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Performing rights organizations like
ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI
use BDS information to calculate music royalty payments.
As you can see, the Nielsen company provides quite a valuable service to you and
the industry in general.
Once completed, you must submit the form to the Soundscan Database Department.
You can send it via e-mail at dbase@soundscan.com
or fax it to: (914) 684-5606
See info below about reporting venue sales.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Why is tracking my sales with Soundscan important?
If a record label is interested in signing a band,
the first thing an A&R person will do is "pull the Soundscans",
or look into how many units you're selling. Any band can claim they've sold
2,000 units without distribution, but if you can prove it with Soundscan numbers
and show that you're consistently drawing big numbers through your live shows, it
will be that much easier to eventually get signed.
Do I need to register with Soundscan?
No, but if you want to keep track of retail sales,
you must register with Soundscan.
Do I need a barcode to register with Soundscan?
Yes, and retailers require one to sell in stores.
Here is more information
on what barcodes do and how to get them.
How can I find out how many sales are recorded by
Soundscan for my product?
Unfortunately you must be a label in business for at least 2 years and pay a $500
yearly fee to gain access to these sales reports. If you have a friend at a record
label, see if they can look into it for you.
I heard I can report my venue sales too, is this
true?
Yes, but you have to be a record label and in business
for at least two years. Also, if you are not a full-access client of Nielsen Soundscan,
you must pay a $500 annual fee to report venue sales. If you qualify, you will be
given a venue sales sheet that you must reproduce on your label's letterhead, and
get the venue owner or manager to verify your sales with a signature.
Who reports Soundscan sales?
All the big chains report their sales to Soundscan, including Tower, Virgin, Sam
Goody, Wal-Mart, as well as the major online retailers such as CDNow, and Amazon.com
Additionally, many of the good sized independent record stores also report.
Is it true that some retail stores count as more
than one sale?
Yes, each store is given what is called a weight.
Soundscan uses this as a tool to estimate sales for all the other retail outlets
that dont report to Soundscan. Some stores weigh as heavily as 10 to 1, meaning
that for every one unit sold at regular cost, it will count as TEN units sold!
A lot of stores have a two or three to one ratio, very few stores carry a weight
of five or more.
That sounds great! Where are these stores!? I want
each of my sales to count ten for one!
That information isnt published, Sorry! Also, if all of a sudden a small store is
selling a lot of your product, but the major chain stores in your area (who are probably
selling the product for less) arent selling a certain percentage more copies, it's
not likely the sales will be weighted.