Verisimilitude
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Post by Verisimilitude on Nov 16, 2011 19:00:14 GMT -5
Billboard Pricing Policy, Effective November 21, 2011
November 15, 2011
By Billboard staff
Unit sales for Albums priced below $3.49 during their first four weeks of release will not be eligible for inclusion on the Billboard album charts and will not count towards sales data presented by Nielsen SoundScan.
*The rule also applies to reissued titles.
*New Holiday/Seasonal titles must meet the minimum threshold through the final week of the calendar year.
*Unit sales for albums or EPs with 8 or less tracks will not be eligible for charting if the retail price is less than the sum of the tracks on the release, multiplied by $0.39.
*Minimum pricing for a multi-disc album (not a single disc with extra tracks), where the extra disc is audio content, will be $3.49 times the amount of discs being made available.
*For digital-only deluxe editions, any extra content exceeding nine tracks would be considered the equivalent of an extra disc. Each additional 10 tracks thereafter would be the equivalent of an additional disc.
Unit sales for Digital Tracks priced below $0.39 during their first three months of release will not be eligible for inclusion on Billboard's digital songs charts.
If a retailer offering a title for less than the above stated prices is a daily reporter to Nielsen SoundScan, units will be removed for charting purposes solely for the dates in which the title was priced less than the minimum.
*If a title was priced under the minimum during a portion of the day, all sales for that title on that day will not count towards the Billboard charts unless accurate transaction data for that title during the specific sales hours can be provided to Nielsen SoundScan for verification.
If a retailer offering a title for less than the above stated prices is a weekly reporter to Nielsen SoundScan, all units for that title sold by the retailer in the week will be removed for charting purposes unless accurate transaction data for that title on the sale date(s) can be provided to Nielsen SoundScan for verification .
Please note that the minimum pricing rule would not apply to any store-wide music liquidation sales.
Is Billboard on the right track, Pulse?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2011 19:22:49 GMT -5
Lawl, knew Billboard would do something after the Gaga mess. (No shade I love the album)
But these price cut offs are so arbitrary (well any number they choose would seem arbitrary). Like $3.50 is supposed to mean intenetion to purchase the product and $3.48 doesn't?
However, I think this is just Billboard (and the industry itself) sending a message that they don't want retailers selling products at a loss.
It's a good idea as long as retailers don't just go ahead and ignore Billboard and price dump anyway.
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Rodze
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Post by Rodze on Nov 16, 2011 19:29:16 GMT -5
However, I think this is just Billboard (and the industry itself) sending a message that they don't want retailers selling products at a loss. It's a good idea as long as retailers don't just go ahead and ignore Billboard and price dump anyway. I don't think Billboard cares about retailers' profit. They just don't want people trying to manipulate the charts. |
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on Nov 16, 2011 19:29:34 GMT -5
So the Amazon albums for Born This Way wouldn't count? Odd but makes sense. I've often wondered whether they could somehow base the chart on sale prices rather than unit shipped to account for such different prices for different albums.
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Rodze
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Post by Rodze on Nov 16, 2011 19:33:50 GMT -5
We ultimately chose $3.49 for two reasons. One, it's roughly half of wholesale in the digital world, where albums cost retailers about $7.50 on average. And two, this price point wouldn't interfere with any regular or semi-regular pricing currently in effect at any of the five biggest retailers - Walmart, Amazon, iTunes, Best Buy and Target. As I noted in my earlier essay, Billboard doesn't want to control the marketplace. We just want to count it. But free or almost-free albums don't represent a marketplace. www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/editor-s-note-new-billboard-policy-sets-1005528912.story |
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SPRΞΞ
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Post by SPRΞΞ on Nov 16, 2011 19:43:53 GMT -5
will this affect Black Friday sales?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2011 19:45:15 GMT -5
However, I think this is just Billboard (and the industry itself) sending a message that they don't want retailers selling products at a loss. It's a good idea as long as retailers don't just go ahead and ignore Billboard and price dump anyway. I don't think Billboard cares about retailers' profit. They just don't want people trying to manipulate the charts. True. The label still makes the same amount of money so I guess they wouldn't care that much about what the retailers sell it for. And RE Gaga, Billboard rule changes are never retro-active so that week will still count I'm sure. The question is though, will it's to date sales be adjusted, or will SoundScan leave it as ~1.9 mil? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2011 19:48:01 GMT -5
will this affect Black Friday sales? It's only for albums in the first 4 weeks on the chart, so if Teenage Dream, Femme Fatale, Love?, ect get price cut they will still count. Lol about this though...I'm glad. |
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Kurt
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Post by Kurt on Nov 16, 2011 19:56:08 GMT -5
I read this a couple hours ago and was a bit confused. With the change, using Born This Way as an example, is this correct? - First-week sales would exclude all sales through Amazon MP3 due to the $0.99 sale, but only for the week that the discount lasted.
- If the discount had lasted longer (say three weeks), Amazon MP3's sales would only count in week four, when the price was within the new threshold.
- If the album stayed at $0.99 pricing, its sales through Amazon MP3 would only count in the fifth week of sales and beyond.
- Say, for example, that iTunes (or any other digital retailer) sold a deluxe version of Born This Way featuring the three bonus tracks and six remixes. Would that mean that Born This Way - Deluxe Edition would chart on the Billboard 200 separately from the standard edition?
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Haley
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Post by Haley on Nov 16, 2011 20:02:24 GMT -5
I swear I remember a Billboard rule that if an album were sold for less than 50% of the retail price, that it wouldn't be included as a sale at all, ever. I wonder if this were ever true.
Interested time to implement all of this though. It's as if Billboard is reading Pulse, lol.
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Rodze
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Post by Rodze on Nov 16, 2011 20:07:17 GMT -5
True. The label still makes the same amount of money so I guess they wouldn't care that much about what the retailers sell it for. And RE Gaga, Billboard rule changes are never retro-active so that week will still count I'm sure. The question is though, will it's to date sales be adjusted, or will SoundScan leave it as ~1.9 mil? Even if the rules were retroactive, which they aren't, it wouldn't change the SoundScan total, since, from what I'm understanding, only Billboard will ignore the sales when making their charts, not SoundScan. |
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Post by Adonis the DemiGod! on Nov 16, 2011 20:11:39 GMT -5
Billboard Pricing Policy, Effective November 21, 2011 November 15, 2011 By Billboard staff Unit sales for Albums priced below $3.49 during their first four weeks of release will not be eligible for inclusion on the Billboard album charts and will not count towards sales data presented by Nielsen SoundScan. *The rule also applies to reissued titles. *New Holiday/Seasonal titles must meet the minimum threshold through the final week of the calendar year. *Unit sales for albums or EPs with 8 or less tracks will not be eligible for charting if the retail price is less than the sum of the tracks on the release, multiplied by $0.39. *Minimum pricing for a multi-disc album (not a single disc with extra tracks), where the extra disc is audio content, will be $3.49 times the amount of discs being made available. *For digital-only deluxe editions, any extra content exceeding nine tracks would be considered the equivalent of an extra disc. Each additional 10 tracks thereafter would be the equivalent of an additional disc. Unit sales for Digital Tracks priced below $0.39 during their first three months of release will not be eligible for inclusion on Billboard's digital songs charts. If a retailer offering a title for less than the above stated prices is a daily reporter to Nielsen SoundScan, units will be removed for charting purposes solely for the dates in which the title was priced less than the minimum. *If a title was priced under the minimum during a portion of the day, all sales for that title on that day will not count towards the Billboard charts unless accurate transaction data for that title during the specific sales hours can be provided to Nielsen SoundScan for verification. If a retailer offering a title for less than the above stated prices is a weekly reporter to Nielsen SoundScan, all units for that title sold by the retailer in the week will be removed for charting purposes unless accurate transaction data for that title on the sale date(s) can be provided to Nielsen SoundScan for verification . Please note that the minimum pricing rule would not apply to any store-wide music liquidation sales. Is Billboard on the right track, Pulse? The Gaga Rule! |
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Post by Push The Button on Nov 17, 2011 2:59:02 GMT -5
It's dumb that they even have to implement this rule in the first place. Is it really that much of a problem? And why only 4 weeks?
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SPRΞΞ
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Post by SPRΞΞ on Nov 17, 2011 3:07:46 GMT -5
so all the heavy discounting will then be implemented starting week 5 from now on by anybody.
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shayonce
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Post by shayonce on Nov 17, 2011 3:56:20 GMT -5
only if albums have big hype during 5week...
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newpower99
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Post by newpower99 on Nov 17, 2011 8:55:29 GMT -5
A charted based on gross sales dollars not units would be interesting . But that would probably drive prices up.
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Verisimilitude
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Post by Verisimilitude on Nov 17, 2011 9:00:54 GMT -5
A charted based on gross sales dollars not units would be interesting . But that would probably drive prices up. Germany's charts are based on gross sales / profit. |
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Post by Adonis the DemiGod! on Nov 17, 2011 9:12:38 GMT -5
A charted based on gross sales dollars not units would be interesting . But that would probably drive prices up. People still have to buy the stuff. The prices can't go higher than the demand for them particularly with piracy as the great equalizer. |
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HolidayGuy
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Post by HolidayGuy on Nov 17, 2011 9:15:19 GMT -5
Keep in mind, too, that this is the start of Billboard's new chart year. That's usually when these changes take effect.
What's this about, though, "unless accurate transaction data for that title during the specific sales hours can be provided to Nielsen SoundScan for verification"? So, they would count if verification is provided- when has there not been verification? (unless I'm not fully understanding it)
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Post by livelikedying111 on Nov 17, 2011 9:39:02 GMT -5
I think it's only fair...now people aren't gonna talk, they spared us that.
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Post by strikeleo on Nov 17, 2011 9:44:19 GMT -5
LOVE this rule, especially since the pathetic mess of BTW. Wish they'd update the numbers to show how much it really sold.
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HolidayGuy
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Post by HolidayGuy on Nov 17, 2011 9:47:25 GMT -5
^It's really sold whatever number is reported. :) Just like Prince's one album sold what it did, bundled ticket/CD sales and all.
So, how long is a "portion" of a day, that Billboard will count ales priced under the minimum, provided the retail has verification?
It's also nice to see a Billboard staffer likened the charts to a game, which we all know it is anyhow in the end- "Billboard lays out its chart rules so labels and artists can play by them."
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Rodze
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Post by Rodze on Nov 17, 2011 11:54:20 GMT -5
So, how long is a "portion" of a day, that Billboard will count ales priced under the minimum, provided the retail has verification? Billboard will never count sales priced under the minimum, the way I'm reading. |
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HolidayGuy
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Post by HolidayGuy on Nov 17, 2011 12:17:57 GMT -5
^Yeah. OK, so reading it again, a retailer must provide a title's sales for the period it was priced less than the minimum, otherwise NO sales for that day (or week) will count. Billboard getting tough. :)
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Post by Push The Button on Nov 17, 2011 17:10:00 GMT -5
A charted based on gross sales dollars not units would be interesting . But that would probably drive prices up. Then you have a misleading chart, just like the all-time box office chart. |
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asg4
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Post by asg4 on Nov 17, 2011 17:20:55 GMT -5
gaga can still manipulate the rule.
price the album for $100 for the first 4 weeks
then on fifth week reduce to 99cents
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 17, 2011 17:23:07 GMT -5
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DJ General
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Post by DJ General on Nov 17, 2011 17:25:45 GMT -5
LOVE this rule, especially since the pathetic mess of BTW. Wish they'd update the numbers to show how much it really sold. LOL It still would have sold almost the same amount. |
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asg4
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Post by asg4 on Nov 17, 2011 17:30:47 GMT -5
gaga can still manipulate the rule.
price the album for $100 for the first 4 weeks
then on fifth week reduce to 99cents
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2011 17:40:11 GMT -5
LOVE this rule, especially since the pathetic mess of BTW. Wish they'd update the numbers to show how much it really sold. LOL It still would have sold almost the same amount. We have no way of knowing that...we don't know how many of those 99-cent purchasers would have bought the album at a higher price. Some, surely, but not all. (That said, strikeleo was simply saying he wishes they would have updated the numbers by subtracting the # of Amazon purchases, which were around 440,000 if my memory serves me. That still would have put her over 600k, an impressive enough number in itself.) It's a pointless thing to worry about IMO because all the arguing in the world is not going to make Billboard go back and say she "only" sold 640k or whatever, and no one is going to conduct a survey asking all those Amazon buyers if they would have gotten the album if it had been 3.49 or higher. |
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