Christian Soundscan Makes Major Changes
Changes include the addition of Digital Albums, Digital Tracks, and R&B/Hip-Hop charts, as well as new web-based features.
Christian SoundScan, the system that tracks sales of gospel music at Christian and general market retailers, has undergone a major upgrade to respond to the growing needs and changing music landscape, announced John W. Styll, president of the Christian Music Trade Association. The changes will include , which includes the addition of Digital Albums, Digital Tracks, and R&B/Hip-Hop charts, as well as new web-based features.
“Christian SoundScan has had an enormous impact on gospel music over the past ten years. It not only significantly raised the profile of gospel music, but it has also provided us with research and marketing tools that have helped us improve the way we do business,” said Styll. “I believe these new enhancements will have a dramatic impact over time as well.”
Styll said that the addition of the Digital Albums and Digital tracks charts were particularly significant in that the charts are reflective of the importance of the new digital format to the overall music business.
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“With legitimate digital downloading becoming more and more acceptable and accessible for consumers, we’ll see impressive growth in this area. And, hopefully, the growth will be sustained as more and more music fans move away from music piracy,” said Styll.
Another chart recently added to Christian Soundscan was the Christian/Gospel chart, which includes both Contemporary Christian and gospel titles.
Christian Soundscan has also made changes to their website to make it more accessible and user friendly.
Upgrades include a home page that displays weekly chart highlights, business conditions, and an overall trending graph; an enhanced title look-up function; an extended-weeks reporting function that allows a user to view up to 13 weeks of sales information on one report; a historical data function on all reports, including a new section for Artist History; and an industry conditions section within the Title Reports that demonstrates how an album stacks up to the industry.
“The objective of Christian SoundScan is to not only provide sales information to Billboard magazine and others watching our industry, but to provide gospel labels, distributors, managers, concert promoters, radio stations, and others within the our industry with local, regional, and national marketplace data that will enable them to positively impact their own business,” said Gabriel Aviles, Christian Music Trade Association Director.
For more information, go to www.cmta.com.
