Lupe Fiasco Questions SoundScan Numbers In Processing Error
This week's Nielsen SoundScan sales numbers may reflect inaccurate sales figures, resulting in misleading numbers for artists like Lupe Fiasco, Chingy, and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.
According to the Web site Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB), SoundScan subscribers were "advised that there may be anomalies in the data for the week ending 9/24/06."
The sales disparity is reportedly the omission of retailer Best Buy, which touts itself as the "largest specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers and related goods in North America."
With the absence of the colossal retailer, the Billboard charts, which utilize SoundScan, were likely adversely compromised.
Lupe Fiasco reportedly sold about 58,000 units of his debut Food & Liquor, a commercial disappointment. The rapper expressed excitement upon hearing about the SoundScan error.
"Hi my peoples...actually this week's Billboards numbers are off because of an error!!!...Best Buy hadn't [sic] turned in their sales...I must remind I was the number #1 seller at Best Buy this week," the rapper posted on the message board for Atlantic Records, his recording home. "The numbers without Best Buy stand at 57,000...the new numbers will be out this friday after they turn in...hahahahaha...GOD IS GREAT!!!!"
As Fiasco expressed, the SoundScan information is expected to be reprocessed and the company explained the process to its staff.
"SoundScan weighted the other retailers in each market to estimate market sales for the week. Don't 'add in' additional sales. There will be aberrations based on some titles that Best Buy may do better with but the totals have been supplemented already. SoundScan will repost everything if Best Buy can get their data in a timely fashion. Since Best Buy ran sales on most of the new titles, debuts could be smaller than actual size."
SoundScan has neither confirmed nor denied whether the Best Buy information was included.
The processing error didn't only affect Hip-Hop acts.
Megaforce Records expressed discontent for paying $26,000 a year for SoundScan, only to have one of its acts to seemingly move 12,183 units: "Shouldn't it be SoundScan's job to report the actual sales numbers, not a guessing game?"
Other tracking company reported that the act sold more than twice that number.
According to the Web site Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB), SoundScan subscribers were "advised that there may be anomalies in the data for the week ending 9/24/06."
The sales disparity is reportedly the omission of retailer Best Buy, which touts itself as the "largest specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers and related goods in North America."
With the absence of the colossal retailer, the Billboard charts, which utilize SoundScan, were likely adversely compromised.
Lupe Fiasco reportedly sold about 58,000 units of his debut Food & Liquor, a commercial disappointment. The rapper expressed excitement upon hearing about the SoundScan error.
"Hi my peoples...actually this week's Billboards numbers are off because of an error!!!...Best Buy hadn't [sic] turned in their sales...I must remind I was the number #1 seller at Best Buy this week," the rapper posted on the message board for Atlantic Records, his recording home. "The numbers without Best Buy stand at 57,000...the new numbers will be out this friday after they turn in...hahahahaha...GOD IS GREAT!!!!"
As Fiasco expressed, the SoundScan information is expected to be reprocessed and the company explained the process to its staff.
"SoundScan weighted the other retailers in each market to estimate market sales for the week. Don't 'add in' additional sales. There will be aberrations based on some titles that Best Buy may do better with but the totals have been supplemented already. SoundScan will repost everything if Best Buy can get their data in a timely fashion. Since Best Buy ran sales on most of the new titles, debuts could be smaller than actual size."
SoundScan has neither confirmed nor denied whether the Best Buy information was included.
The processing error didn't only affect Hip-Hop acts.
Megaforce Records expressed discontent for paying $26,000 a year for SoundScan, only to have one of its acts to seemingly move 12,183 units: "Shouldn't it be SoundScan's job to report the actual sales numbers, not a guessing game?"
Other tracking company reported that the act sold more than twice that number.
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