Music data company Luminate, which collects the data used in Billboard charts, has formed a new partnership with indie record store groups in an effort to diffuse a controversy over how it collects information on sales of physical music.
Under the new partnership, which launched on April 19, Luminate collects data on physical music sales, including vinyl, CDs and cassettes, from StreetPulse, a music data company that receives daily sales metrics directly from stores.
StreetPulse’s data will be incorporated into the physical sales data that Luminate is already collecting from other stores, allowing Luminate to “report more direct US independent music retail data than ever before,” the company said in a statement issued Wednesday (April 24).
The partnership involves the Music Business Association and several groups that work together under the moniker Record Store Day: the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), and Department of Record Stores (DORS).
In conjunction with the change, Billboard announced a rebranding of its Tastemaker Albums Chart, which will now be known as ‘Indie Store Album Sales.’
Luminate’s expanded data collection on physical sales at indie stores comes after a controversy flared up last year over a change to its metrics for physical music sales, which indie store groups said could mean that some physical music sales would be underreported on the Billboard charts.
“We’re just honored to play a part… so that our beloved record stores can again have a real seat at the table.”
Pearl Jam
Luminate announced that it would be retiring its weighted model for calculating physical sales, under which the data company adjusted sales figures to account for the fact that not all indie stores reported their sales.
Under the new model, to be launched this year, only actual recorded sales would be counted, prompting some figures in the indie music industry to warn that this would disadvantage artists whose sales were concentrated in indie music stores.
The new partnership with StreetPulse, meant to expand the physical music sales counted by Luminate, was hailed by Pearl Jam – the rock band known for its advocacy of indie music – and by its frontman Eddie Vedder.
“For nearly as long as we’ve been a band, there’d been a system that worked. We’re just honored to play a part… so that our beloved record stores can again have a real seat at the table,” Pearl Jam said in a statement.
“We truly love …the [independent] shops. They’ve always meant the world to us,” Vedder added. “When it gets to this time when you can help out the community and the community record stores, it’s a no brainer.”
“Sometimes it takes a pinch to bring people together, and the industry response to the unweighting of physical data was perhaps necessary to highlight the importance of that data to our industry.”
Portia Sabin, Music Business Association
“I’d like to thank the coalitions, the retail stores, and Luminate for taking this issue seriously and working together to reach a deal,” said Music Business Association President Portia Sabin.
“Sometimes it takes a pinch to bring people together, and the industry response to the unweighting of physical data was perhaps necessary to highlight the importance of that data to our industry. I’d also like to thank so many people at the labels, distributors, and even individual artists for speaking out and helping us to reach an agreement, because whenever our industry comes together to achieve a common goal it is inspiring for our future.”
Andrea Paschal, Executive Director of SIMS, called the new arrangement “the most significant development in the independent music retail industry since the creation of Record Store Day… Our goal has always been to ensure comprehensive physical sales reporting, and bringing in data from StreetPulse, which collects actual sales from more US indie retailers than ever before, will ensure that every purchase is cataloged and counted correctly.”
“Physical retail remains strong and growing, and this deal will ensure that reality is reflected in sales and total consumption figures.”
Hannah Carlen, Secretly Group
“Luminate is always working towards the goal of providing quality and accurate data to the industry,” Luminate’s Director of Parnterships, Chris Muratore, said in a statement.
“We always strive to be a good partner to those across the many sectors of the music and entertainment industries, and we are happy to announce this new partnership in alignment with that mission and our values.”
“Comprehensive sales figures are crucial for everyone: for artists and their label partners, for Luminate to provide accurate marketplace reporting, and for independent retailers who rightly own and control their data and the subsequent insights,” said Secretly Group Marketing Director Hannah Carlen.
“Physical retail remains strong and growing, and this deal will ensure that reality is reflected in sales and total consumption figures.”Music Business Worldwide
