Heads up musicians, especially those with an army out there waiting to snatch up your next release from your website: changes are coming to Billboard’s ingestion and reporting guidelines for digital sales:
Currently:
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A customer who purchases 1-4 units (at ISRC or UPC level) in a week will have their sales ingested by MRC Data without adjustment.
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A customer who purchases 5-9 units (at ISRC or UPC level) in a week will have their sales reduced to 4 units.
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A customer who purchases 10 or more units (at ISRC or UPC level) in a week will have their sales dismissed.
Beginning with the week ending Jan. 6, 2022:
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A customer who purchases 1 unit (at ISRC or UPC level) will have their sales ingested by MRC Data without adjustment.
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A customer who purchases 2 or more units (at ISRC or UPC level) will have their sales reduced to 1 unit.
The changes are meant to “align will long-standing policies at digital providers that represent the majority of digital music sales” and discourage fans from batch or bulk purchases, or at least as it relates to those purchases counting toward the Billboard charts.
We understand that changes often lead to questions, so if you need help navigating these new guidelines and how they affect your release strategy or reporting eligibility, we are here to help!
