Understanding the Charts: Retail Sales and the Performing Songwriter: Part 2

As featured in: Performing Songwriter Issue #60, March/April 2002.  Visit performingsongwriter.com to order back issues or subscribe.

By Bill Parsons

Part 1 | 2

Who Uses the Charts and What For

The average music fan might peruse the charts to see how their favorite band is doing--or check up on “who’s beating who.” But as we’ve just seen, that kind of analysis doesn’t begin to describe the myriad ways music industry professionals use the charts. In fact, most industry pros look one step further than the aggregate information they find in the charts by paying SoundScan a subscription fee for more sophisticated breakdowns of retail sales data. The breakdowns are based on variables like weekly sales, local markets or store type. You see, in reality, SoundScan’s relationship with Billboard is just a by-product of its main business. Billboard retains the exclusive rights to publish SoundScan’s sales information in chart form. But SoundScan makes most of its money by customizing its raw information for industry clients who want access to it. And who might want access to it? You name it: labels
thinking about signing an artist; radio stations wondering whether to add a record; managers trying to evaluate a potential client; retailers considering stocking a title; talent buyers figuring out who to book; and artists trying to get signed, added, managed, carried or booked. Get the picture? According to my interviewees, the impact of retail sales information on industry decision-making is everywhere.

“I think the charts encompass all of the people we’re talking about,” offers Mark Cope, Charts Director for the CMJ New Music Report, which launched its indie-focused Top 100, Major Chain, One-Stop and Top 20 In-Store Play charts in 2001. “Label people use the information, starting with the sales and marketing departments. Then there’s the product managers within the labels. It even filters down to the local level, which starts a chain of events of ‘Do we need to do a stock check in this market if it looks like the information we’re getting from the trades tells us that we’re out of stock?’ Record labels use various things to justify or not justify what they’re doing. Artist management wants to see how their act is doing and whether there’s a spike in their tour markets or where they just ran some ads. I even know some distribution companies whose sales departments receive bonuses based on SoundScan.”

“It can be very helpful in planning tours and assessing the value of the tours you’ve already done,” explains manager Tom Carrico, whose Studio One has handled clients like Mary Chapin Carpenter and currently represents The Reverend Billy C. Wirtz and Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun. “You can certainly see the sales blips after playing a market. It reinforces the whole point of touring. It really does impact sales. Certainly we saw blips in markets where we had heavy rotation on radio, so we would scratch our head on dates or heavy rotation or touring that wasn’t working and ask what needed to be different. Since it comes out regularly, it’s simple to pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses are. It allows you to see patterns and act on them. It’s a great marketing tool in that regard.”

“I watch the trends,” echoes Charlie Hunter, whose Young-Hunter Management roster includes Chris Smither, Richard Shindell and Peter Mulvey. “The [SoundScan] reports list sales three weeks ago, two weeks ago, last week and this week. If there was a market I was going into that was a 0, 0, 0, 0, I’d check with the retail people at the label to see if they were pushing to get copies into the stores in that market. If you haven’t sold anything in Paducah, Ky., it’s likely not in the stores. But if you’re playing Paducah, Ky., that gives you the knowledge to get the label people to make some effort there. Or let’s say it’s San Francisco and you’ve got, 20, 20, 20 and then it goes to 0--that’s probably a stocking issue.”

“It’s also handy with bookings to see where you’re doing well,” continues Hunter. Let’s say you’re moving 60 copies a week in Chicago and you’re going to play Schubas, which seats 125-200 people. You may be able to jack up the guarantee a bunch or maybe add a second show--it’s just a bit more ammunition as to why it’s a more important show. And with radio, if you start selling a significant amount of copies at retail, it’s a story. Even if XPN doesn’t like the record, you can say, ‘I respect your opinion, but we’re moving 800 copies a week at stores that sell to your audience. You guys are crazy not to be getting on this!’ You can make people reconsider, because nobody wants to be left behind. But you have to give them a story. People want to be part of a story--not just raw numbers.”

“We turn it around and put it in the marketing,” agrees Jim Olsen, president of Signature Sounds Recordings. “We’ll say ‘we moved 800 records in Boston. Why only 200 in New York?’ What I look at instead of the charts is the market-bymarket analysis, the retail chains, the indies, and the non-traditional Internet or venue sales. They break it down in a lot of different ways. It can be a super-useful tool.”

“For the most part, people use our chart to see how their records are doing and how the competition is doing,” suggests George Saadi, Vice President of Retail for Clear Channel Entertainment Multimedia, which owns The Album Network and publishes Album Network’s Top 100 chart as well as the tastemaker CIMS (Coalition of Independent Music Stores) and Music Monitor charts. “A lot of A&R use it when they want to get an unsigned or indie act some regional attention. If you impact one store or region strong enough, you can wave a flag about what’s going on there. People have a lot of interest in what’s selling in stores. It’s evidence of success.”

“It’s another selling point,” confirms Kirk Brandenberger, who compiles the Top 20 chart for Bluegrass Now. “If you’ve been #1 on the bluegrass charts for five months, that’s something to add to your resume. It’s bragging rights.”

One example of an artist with something to brag about is Austin, Texas-based Bob Schneider, who parlayed his retail success at one store into a major label deal with Universal Records. Kim Garner, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Artist Development at Universal, explains:

“Bob played in Austin, and he only sold to Waterloo [Austin’s venerable independent retailer] because it was the most convenient thing to do. It was just easier to build a relationship there. Well, he sold 10,000 units at Waterloo alone and had the #1 record there. We picked up the record after seeing what was coming out of Austin because we obviously call retail to find out what’s going on. We are aware of the CIMS chart, and what the stores are doing. A number one record at a CIMS store is a big deal. One of the most compelling reasons for signing Bob Schneider was looking at his retail sales at Waterloo. The fact that he sold that many records as an independent recording artist meant that we had to pay attention to him.”

The Charts and You

It is certainly possible to build a career without paying much attention to the charts. Indeed, some artists in niche genres have little choice. But since so much industry decision-making flows from retail information, it only makes sense for artists swimming in the commercial mainstream to give it a try. In conclusion, then, here a few suggestions for those wishing to incorporate retail charts into their overall career plans.

Make sure your CD has a bar code so that it can be registered with SoundScan (914-328-9100) and recognized by retailers’ point-of-sales technology.

Familiarize yourself with what chart your music might be appropriate for and start to follow that chart on a regular basis.

Check to see if the trade that compiles your chart also publishes its reporting panel (some do, some don’t). If it does, you know which retailers to approach about stocking your CD--and where to focus your performing and promotional energies. If it doesn’t, just ask any retailer you’re considering--including online vendors--whether and where they report. Most of the time they’ll tell you.

If you sell a significant percentage of your product off the stage, call SoundScan and ask about their procedure for reporting venue sales.

If you can afford it and you want to measure your own progress at SoundScan, you can join the Association for Independent Music (www.afim.org) and get SoundScan’s reduced AFIM subscription rate of roughly $105 a week over a minimum of 26 weeks for a total of approximately $2,730. Alternatively, consider looking into SoundScan’s new Robo A&R program, which helps alert industry insiders to breaking artists based on retail and airplay results in smaller markets.

And finally, if you find yourself selling enough product to brag about (Note: It takes roughly 3000 units before you start attracting industry attention and about 6000 units sold over a discreet time period to crack Billboard’s Top 200), tell people about it! The music business is, after all, a business. And, apart from your craft, nothing impresses industry decision-makers more than a proven track record of success.

OK, that’s it. Our best advice on retail charts and the performing songwriter. Good luck! 

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