(Hypebot<\/a>) — The Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) and the Vinyl Alliance have joined forces to oppose Luminate and Billboard\u2019s upcoming changes to how music sales are calculated from independent retailers.<\/p>\n

Data from Luminate is used throughout the music industry including in the calculation of the\u00a0Billboard Charts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting in the first week of 2024,\u00a0Luminate<\/strong>\u00a0says that data on vinyl, CDs, and cassettes will reflect only sales at indie stores in the United States and Canada that participate in their new program. Until now, because only a small number of record stores report, sales have been algorithmically adjusted to get a more accurate number of total sales<\/p>\n

That could mean that sales from 95% of independent stores will go unreported.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWith less than 5% of independent physical retailers currently reporting directly to Luminate, the data collected will be a grossly inaccurate representation on the sales of physical products, and therefore the overall size and strength of the industry,\u201d according to a joint statement from the\u00a0VRMA<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Vinyl Allianc<\/strong>e. \u201cThere will be an immediate break between the market reporting by the RIAA and the IFPI, both important and globally recognized industry organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReviewing current data, the overall US physical market reporting could be reduced by as much as 40% in units and by 35% in value in retail dollars,\u201d concluded the two trade groups.<\/p>\n

Luminate\u00a0<\/strong>has countered that the reporting from these stores \u2013 an estimated 72 out of 1400 \u2013 represents the vast majority of all US and Canadian indie music store sales.<\/p>\n

A2iM<\/strong>\u00a0(American Association of Independent Music)\u00a0called Luminmate to pause implementatio<\/a>n until store adoption exceeds 75%. An alliance of\u00a0Independent Media Stores, Amoeba Music, Coalition of Independent Music Stores, Dept of Record Stores,<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0F.A.M.S. (Forever A Music Store) Coalition\u00a0<\/strong>also\u00a0oppose the changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bruce Houghton<\/strong>\u00a0is the Founder and Editor of\u00a0Hypebot<\/a>, a Senior Advisor at\u00a0Bandsintown<\/a>, President of the\u00a0Skyline Artists Agency<\/a>, and a\u00a0Berklee College Of Music<\/a>\u00a0professor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Hypebot) — The Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) and the Vinyl Alliance have joined forces to oppose Luminate and Billboard\u2019s upcoming changes to how music sales are calculated from independent retailers. Data from Luminate is used throughout the music industry including in the calculation of the\u00a0Billboard Charts. Starting in the first week of 2024,\u00a0Luminate\u00a0says that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":40790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stc_notifier_status":"sent","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"2023-12-05 13:32:47","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,22,82],"tags":[10162,5497],"class_list":["post-143504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-industry_news","category-label-news","tag-retail","tag-vinyl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n