Reporting To Billboard / Soundscan now Luminate

There are lots of rules to keep things fair when it comes to reporting to Billboard.

Scroll down to see a list of all the rules. We apply these rules when we create data for reporting. If your sale breaks one of the rules then it will not be reported as a sale. For example, you cannot bundle an album with a t-shirt if you want to report it to SoundScan.

Here Is Your To Do List:

  1. Each song must have an ISRC code and each album must have a UPC Code. On 8-31-2022, Soundscan verified through email that you may use the same UPC for all album versions, digital and physical. When we report, we tell Soundscan what version was sold. To clarify, each song on the album will have its own ISRC code.
    1. Your distributor might issue these. If not, you can google it and find places to buy these codes.
    2. There is a place for you to enter the ISRC code inside the SRT form.
    3. There is a place for you to enter the UPC code inside the Album creation form.
    4. There is a place to enter the UPC on the product form, in your store, when you create a CD or other physical album product for sale.
  2. You need to go to SoundScan and register your songs and albums. Scroll down to see links below.
  3. You must follow the rules. Be careful what you bundle with your songs or albums. 

SoundScan is now Luminate and this is their Operations Hub and Knowledge Base.

Good info on ISRC codes. ISRC and UPC codes can be found here:

This is the registration form for artists to register their albums with SoundScan:

UPC is used for digital or physical albums: https://titlereg.soundscan.com/soundscantitlereg/

ISRC is used for single songs:  https://titlereg.soundscan.com/soundscantitlereg/registerISRC.aspx

SoundScan FAQ

Billboard: What Equals an Album Sale? 

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. (updated 4-25-2022)

More Helpful Information:

ISRC vs. ISWC

https://blog.songtrust.com/isrc-iswc-song-registration-tips?_ga=2.158100282.1024842652.1617453475-518621935.1617453475

Fan Packs: On June 30, 2023 the following will go into effect and will modify the info below this section to allow some merch items to be sold with physical albums and be allowed to be reported as a sale.

  • fan packs will be restricted to just two options per album release – for example, a sweatshirt with an LP and a t-shirt with a CD
  • each individual item must also be sold separately in the same web store.
  • fan packs will include only merch – not tickets, meet-and-greet opportunities, virtual items, or non-tangible benefits
  • fan packs must also contain a physical copy of an album:
    • combinations of digital downloads and merch will not count toward the chart

  • all fan pack offerings must be approved in advance of their on-sale date by Luminate and Billboard

    Here is an article supporting this change: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2023/05/billboard-re-adds-controversial-merch-bundles-to-chart-calculations.html


Below are rules supplied by SoundScan (last updated December 2020).

CONCERT TICKET / ALBUM SALE REDEMPTION OFFERS (TICKET BUNDLES):

  • No further concert ticket / album sale redemption offers (ticket bundles) approved starting immediately.
  • As of Oct. 9, 2020, available tickets for sale cannot include an album bundle, even for previously approved bundles.
  • All chart-ineligible albums will also not have sales counted towards Nielsen Music / MRC Data’s release-to-date figures/totals.

MERCHANDISE/ALBUM BUNDLES

  • Starting on Oct 9, 2020, no further sales of albums can be reported if they are bundled with merchandise, even if the album and merchandise are available a la carte.
  • All albums released on Oct. 9, 2020 onward must adhere to the new no-bundling rules immediately.
  • Any merch / album bundle offers presented for albums released prior to Oct. 9, 2020 will no longer be reportable on or after Oct. 9, 2020.
  • Merchandise is anything that is not the album itself, including but not limited to, standard merch (clothing, paper goods, etc.), virtual items, concert pre-sale codes, tour laminates, access to merchandise or meet-n-greet opportunities, fan club memberships, contests or codes with No Purchase Necessary entrance options, etc.
  • Artists can also still sell signed physical format albums, color variants of physical format albums, and so on.
  • All chart-ineligible albums will also not have sales counted towards Nielsen Music / MRC Data’s release-to-date figures/totals.

INCENTIVIZING ALBUM/SINGLE/TRACK PURCHASES

  • There can be no contesting or incentives to the consumer to buy an album in return for  — or a chance to win access to — goods or experiences (whether virtual or actual), including benefits or discounts of any kind. This also applies to a single or song / track purchases.

ALLOWANCES:

Adding an album to a purchase:

  • An album purchase, including a version beyond the standard widely available edition, can always be manually added by a customer to their shopping cart in addition to a merchandise or ticket purchase, so long as the album price is a minimum of $3.49. Customer would make a clear choice to purchase an album on its own, as a separate item, and album purchase must not yield any benefits or discounts to the customer. This album purchase would be reportable as a sale.

Boxed Sets:

  • A physical format album (CD, vinyl LP, cassette, etc.) sold within a finished goods boxed set/boxed package (a package manufactured as a pre-set box, together with clearly artist/album-branded merchandise items, not a pre-pack of loose goods) can continue to count as a sale as normal, following advance approval. (Artist / album-branded merchandise allowances will not change from currently allowable branding elements.)
  • The boxed package must have its own unique UPC code separate from any other version of the album and must be submitted for pre-approval to Billboard and Nielsen Music / MRC Data by the label or retailer at least four weeks in advance of the street date/release date of the package. Boxed package sales are reported to Nielsen Music / MRC Data upon shipment of the physical package to the customer, or sale to the customer at the point-of-purchase if in a brick-and-mortar environment. If a digital download is included with the purchase, that is not the reportable album format. If multiple physical formats of the same album are contained within a boxed package, the sale of the box only counts as one album sale. For further details on boxed set approval process, contact Nielsen / MRC Data & Billboard.
  • This paragraph is from the following Billboard article: Box sets — long reserved for elaborate collector’s editions packed with unreleased recordings and paper goods like photos and lyric sheets — have become one of record labels’ top ways to boost sales and improve chart performance, after a July 2020 Billboard rule change. According to the updated rules: Loose “bundles” of physical or digital albums sold with merchandise, and concert ticket/album sale redemption offers, are no longer permitted; sales of “box sets” still count towards the charts, as long as all the items fit into a “finished goods boxed set/package.”

SIGNED MERCHANDISE (Aug. 7 - Oct. 8, 2020, only):

  • Effective on Aug. 7 (through the end of Merch Bundle allowances period on Oct. 8, 2020), any signed merchandise/album bundle offers must be live and for sale on the approved artist direct-to-consumer store/web store no later than the album’s first day of release (by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on day of release). (Example: signed poster + digital album.)
  • Any additional signed merchandise / album bundles offered beyond the first day of an album’s release will not have their sales count for the charts.

PHYSICAL/DIGITAL FORMAT BUNDLES:

Albums:

  • Beginning on Aug. 7, 2020, there will be a change in how multiple formats of the same album sold together in a bundle can be reported as a sale to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. 
  • Specifically, in regards to digital sales being reported for a physical format purchase.
  • The following applies to any album sold from Aug. 7, 2020 onward, regardless of release date.
  • Multiple formats of the same album can be bundled together (CD + Vinyl LP, CD + Digital Album, Original plus karaoke, etc.). 
  • *Karaoke can be sold with any version of the album or song but only one sale is reported. Karaoke can be sold alone and counted as a sale.
  • *MxRR - The Fan Song Mixer can not be counted as a sale. (We hope to get this changed in the near future.) Do not bundle this with an album or song if you want the sale reported to SoundScan.
  • However, only one sale from each bundle is reportable. 
  • In a Physical + Digital Album combination, ONLY the physical sale is the reportable sale, when it is fulfilled to the customer. If there are more than one physical formats in a bundle, with a digital album, the first physical configuration in the bundle that is fulfilled to the customer will be the reported sale and configuration.
  • When two (or more) Physical Albums are part of the purchase (CD + Vinyl, for example), and no Digital Album, the first physical configuration in the bundle that is fulfilled to the customer will be the reported sale and configuration.
  • If there is only one format of an album sold (no bundle of multiple albums), then the sale continues to report as normal: when that album is fulfilled to the customer.

Singles:

  • Beginning on Aug. 7, 2020 there will be a change in how multiple configurations of the same single sold together in a bundle, can be reported as a sale to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. 
  • Specifically, in regards to digital sales being reported for a physical format purchase.
  • The following applies to any single sold from Aug. 7, 2020 onward, regardless of release date.
  • Multiple configurations of the same single can be bundled together (CD Single + Vinyl Single, Cassette Single + Digital Track, etc.). 
  • However, only one sale from each bundle is reportable. 
  • In a Physical + Digital Single/Track combination, ONLY the physical sale is the reportable sale, when it is fulfilled to the customer. If there are more than one physical configurations in a bundle, with a digital single/track, the first physical configuration in the bundle that is fulfilled to the customer will be the reported sale and configuration.
  • When two (or more) Physical Singles are part of the purchase (CD Single + Vinyl Single, for example), and no Digital Single/Track, the first physical configuration in the bundle that is fulfilled to the customer will be the reported sale and configuration.
  • If multiple copies of a digital song or track is sold as an item (example: a clean and explicit version of the same digital track), this would be reported under a single UPC, not by ISRC.
  • If there is only one configuration of a single sold (one CD single, one vinyl single, one cassette single; no bundle of multiple singles), then the sale continues to report as normal: when that single is fulfilled to the customer.
Multiple sales of the same physical album/song
  • A customer who purchases 1 to 4 units will be ingested without any adjustments;
  • A customer who purchases 5 to 9 units will have that customer’s count reduced to 4 units;
  • A customer who purchases 10 or more units be dismissed entirely, having that customer’s count adjusted to 0 units.

IN-STORE EXPERIENCES/MEET-AND-GREETS, ETC.:

  • Sales of an album at an event at a brick-and-mortar retailer store (a traditional physical store operated by an active, recurring traditional music-based Nielsen Music / MRC Data-reporting retailer, not an event space or pop-up store the retailer is supporting) administered by the same active Nielsen Music / MRC Data retailer that runs the store -- which may involve an in-person autograph signing, photo opportunity, performance or some other in-person artist-related experience -- are allowable. Albums must be distributed on-site, and sales are reported as traditional sales by the Nielsen Music / MRC Data-reporting retailer.
  • Any in-person artist interaction (including meet-and-greets) occurring outside of a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer store operated by an active, recurring traditional music-based Nielsen / MRC-reporting retailer (at a pop-up shop, event space, non-traditional goods store, a performance venue, etc.) must not be contingent on the purchase of an album for the customer to access the interaction, and must be submitted for approval in advance of the event and and promotion/publicity of the event. If it’s unclear whether an album purchase is required to be eligible to take part in the interaction, sales of the album at that event will not be eligible for reporting.