Billboard lays down “New Rules” excluding merch and bundles

U.S. charting authority Billboard has made changes to its music charts. This includes the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, in a report on Monday, July 13.

Billboard will be making changes to how it counts album and singles sales. Specifically, the music publication is looking at albums bundled with other merchandise. The same goes for concert ticket packages. They are also considering digital sales "attached to purchases for physical albums delivered at a later date."

Last January, Billboard already put a set of rules in place. The recent announcement contains provisions that supersede them. One of which specifies that album-merch bundles, "be available for purchase concurrently and individually on the same website." It also added that the merch, if sold separately, must be priced lower than the bundles on which it was included.

Also, albums bundled with merch should only be sold on the artist's official direct-to-consumer online store. Third-party selling sites are no longer counted.

These provisions were considered by the company to "have fallen short." They have set the rules to "accurately reflecting consumer intent." Under the new rules, albums sold as a bundle, whether with merch or concert tickets, are no longer counted in their songs and albums charts.

New rules on bundled music sales

The effectivity of the new rules is set to be announced later. However, more details have been disclosed by the media company. About the bundles, albums must be promoted and sold as an add-on to the merch. Bundles covering all items promoted under a single price with the album price unspecified are no longer counted in the charting process.

The media brand is also set to crack down on selling music bundled with digital downloads. Under the existing practices, these bundled digital downloads are later reported under digital sales. The new rule reportedly eliminates "non-manufactured items." This instant access to new music influences first-week sales performance. Under the new rules, a sale will only be tallied once the physical item is shipped.

Under the physical-digital music bundles widespread in the music industry, vinyl records and C.D.s are not manufactured and shipped for months. Instead, consumers pay for immediate digital access to the latest song or album. The actual, physical item arrives much later.

Boosting music sales through merch and concert seats

Improving sales performance of songs and albums by bundling them with concert tickets has been on for decades. Back in 2017, country music artist Kenny Chesney released "Live in No Shoes Nation." It was the first live album to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in seven years. Chesney's album was the best-selling live record since "Back in the U.S.: Live 2002" by former Beatle Paul McCartney.

An earlier article from Billboard clarified that albums bundled with merch or concert tickets are not counted outright. These are only eligible in the sales tally once the buyer has redeemed the items. Record labels have already earned sales for an album. These are considered sold whether consumers redeem the physical album or not. However, some indie producers do not agree with the bundling practice.

Seth Hurwitz, owner of the Anthem in Washington, D.C., called bundles as "just a flat-out scam." Hurwitz explained that this practice forces people to buy songs and albums. Labels do this to "jack-up first-week album sales." However, doing so puts "tours on sale way before they ought to."

Tags

Billboard, Billboard 200, Billboard hot 100