SoundScan’s big break came when the editors at

Billboard decided

to begin using the service to compile its music charts. Over the years
the

Billboard charts have become one of the most important gauges

of success in the high stakes world of commercial music.

Billboard’s

listings of the top-selling albums and singles determine who is rec-
ognized as the industry’s leading performers, which in turn impacts
radio and video airplay, sales, industry accolades, and finally, of all
things, chart position. The

Billboard charts, in short, have the power

to make or break careers.

SoundScan was a revolutionary idea. Prior to its introduction the

methods used to determine sales and

Billboard chart positions were

archaic. Typically, music industry executives relied on the observa-
tions and hunches of record store clerks and managers who produced
weekly reports that ranked sales trends. In order to determine chart
position under the old system,

Billboard would survey a jury of retail

personnel and ask them to rank which albums they perceived to be
the most popular or best-selling product. Under this system it was
possible to gain a sense of which albums were “hot” but not how
many copies were actually sold. The data was subjective and open to
interpretation.

The subjective nature of the method created an obvious incentive

for the music companies to try to influence the reports. There was
rampant suspicion that the charts were aƒected more by hype than
actual sales and may not have represented an accurate account of
what product stores were actually moving. Over the years there were
numerous stories about how reps from the major labels doled out
free concert tickets, special promotions, and other perks as a way to
encourage the kind of overreporting by stores that enhanced the
profile and sales of their artists. Shortly after adopting SoundScan,
then

Billboard editor-in-chief Timothy White acknowledged that

“Our old system was subject to manipulation and that people abused
it. Store reporters could be bribed with clock radios and all sorts of
amenities and favors.”

Like film and television, the music industry has grown into a

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