Luminate, which provides data to Advertising sign charts, has signed a new partnership that will allow it to report more directly independent US music retail data than ever before, the company announced on Wednesday (April 24th).
As part of the partnership — which came into force on Friday (April 19) and was jointly achieved by the Independent Music Store Coalition, the Independent Media Store Alliance and Record Stores (who work together as Record Store Day) along with the Music Business Association — Luminate will collect independent physical music sales from StreetPulse, a music industry data provider that receives daily sales metrics directly from retailers. The data, which includes CD, vinyl and cassette sales, will be integrated with the physical sales data that Luminate already collects directly from other stores.
To better recognize the impact of music sales on indie retail, Advertising sign has renamed the Tastemaker Albums chart to Indie Store album Sales. The weekly tally reflects top-selling titles at indie outlets in the United States.
The news follows Luminate's controversial decision last year to retire the weighted data modeling it previously used to measure physical sales in the independent retail sector in an effort to increase the quality and accuracy of its sales metrics.
“I would like to thank the coalitions, retailers and Luminate for taking this issue seriously and working together to reach an agreement,” he said. Portia Sabinpresident of the Music Business Association, in a statement.
“Sometimes it takes a little to bring people together, and the industry's response to natural data weighting was perhaps necessary to highlight the importance of this data to our industry,” added Sabin. “I'd also like to thank so many people at labels, distributors and even individual artists who spoke out and helped us reach an agreement, because every time our industry comes together to achieve a common goal, it inspires our future. “
“This new partnership is the most significant development in the independent music retail industry since the creation of Record Store Day,” he said. Andreas Paschalis of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. “It's always been our goal to ensure comprehensive physical sales reporting, and bringing data from StreetPulse, which collects actual sales from more independent retailers in the US than ever before, will ensure that every purchase is properly recorded and counted.”
“Luminate is always working towards the goal of providing quality and accurate data to the industry,” he added Chris Muratore, director of partnerships at Luminate. “We always strive to be a good partner in all the many areas of the music and entertainment industry, and we are pleased to announce this new partnership in alignment with that mission and our values.”
Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who served as a Record Store Day ambassador in 2019, said in his own statement: “We really love… [independent] stores. They have always meant the world to us. When you get to this moment where you can help the community and the record stores in the community, it's amazing.”
Upon hearing of the new deal, Pearl Jam also released a statement from the full band: “For almost as long as we've been a band, there's been a system that's worked. We're just honored to play a part… so that our beloved record stores have a real seat at the table again.”
“Comprehensive sales data is vital for everyone: for artists and their partners, for Luminate to provide accurate market reports, and for independent retailers to rightfully own and control their data and the resulting information,” he said. Hannah Carlen, director of marketing at Secretly Group. “Physical retail remains strong and growing and this deal will ensure that reality is reflected in sales and overall consumption figures.”
Note: Luminate is an independent company owned by PME TopCo, a subsidiary of PMC and a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Advertising sign is an independent company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/luminate-changes-record-store-sales-count-method-billboard-charts-1235664630/
